Kirby, Ori, and the Blind Forest
by theawesomepsee
Summary: When Kirby's warp star is destroyed in the great storm, he finds himself in Nibel, which is losing its beauty by the day. now he must journey with his new friend Ori to restore the light of nibel and locate his missing warp star pieces!
1. Prologue

_How is friendship achieved? It can be achieved through several means. They can be made through hardships, trials and tribulations, or maybe when you are just lonely. But there exists a tale of friendship, adventure, fantasy, and sacrifice. This is but of one of the many retellings of this story…_

Once upon a time, in a star-shaped planet known as pop star, there resided a peaceful country known as Dream Land, a kingdom greatly popularized by its peace and quiet. Another reason this land is well-known is because it is the home of the hero of pop star: Kirby of the stars, or just simply Kirby. Kirby is a round pink star warrior with two stubby hands with no fingers and pointy red feet. He is a very well-known local in dream land due to his heroic efforts to save dream land, pop star, and even the universe itself. Of course, Kirby does not save Dream Land alone. His often enlists the help of his friends, Meta Knight, Bandana Waddle Dee, and King Dedede.

Meta Knight is a star warrior, just like kirby. He has a similar appearance to Kirby, except he is purple and wears a gray mask, alongside with some armor on his arms and feet. Meta Knight usually appears in kirby's adventures either to test his strength, or to aid him in his adventures. Bandana Waddle Dee is a regular Waddle Dee with a blue bandana and mostly seen with a sharp spear who mostly follows King Dedede, but he has gone on many adventures with kirby, resulting in him becoming one of Kirby's best friends. King Dedede-a blue penguin-like being with a red robe with a peace sign on the back and red hat with a gold crown on it, alongside with a waistband with a zigzag pattern on it-was once a greedy and narrow-minded being with a strong rivalry with Kirby, but with his help and a lot of experience and life lessons, Dedede had a change of heart, in which he and Kirby had set aside their rivalry, leading up to them becoming good friends. With the help of his trusty wooden hammer, Dedede and Kirby now aid one another on their adventures to save Pop Star.

One day in Dream Land, Kirby was sleeping inside of his white dome-shaped house. It was not very big considering Kirby spent most of his time outside his house frolicking in the fields and defending pop star. The rising sun shone through Kirby's window and shone on his face, waking him from his slumber. "Ngh...no...come back cake…" Kirby muttered, still half-asleep as he stumbled out of bed. Kirby blinked and rubbed his eyes, removing any traces of sleep in his eyes. He removed his purple nightcap and hung it on the edge of his bed, then walked outside and stretched the sleep out of his body. _*yawn*...good morning dream land!_ Kirby thought as he ran out to the open fields of Green Greens to start another day of peace in Dream Land. In the early morning, Kirby could usually be found fishing with Bandana Waddle Dee. Today, Kirby caught three Blippers, while Bandana Waddle Dee caught two Squishies and a Glunk. In the afternoon, Kirby trained with Meta knight, working on his sky energy sword technique. He occasionally accidentally launched the attack upwards, hitting a few Bronto Burts. At night, King Dedede asked Kirby to fill in for Chef Kawasaki-King Dedede's royal Chef-at the supper party supper party he was holding,due to the fact the Chef Kawasaki was vacationing in the Popopo islands. The appetizer was a fresh helping of jalapeno poppers and mozzarella sticks. The main course was steamed turkey with the finest spices in dream land. And the dessert was a red velvet cake fit for a king. Kirby devoured his piece whole, and was still hungry for more, despite the fact he ate a three-course meal. After snacking on some tomatoes, Kirby went home and hopped in his bed. After lying for a little, he stared up at the night sky, the moon as bright as ever with a blanket of stars in the distance. Kirby smiled. He was never able to get used to the peaceful skies of dream land. The thought of everlasting peace soothed his mind, and he let sleep claim him for the night. Little did he know, his dream would mark the start of one of Kirby's most fantastical adventures yet.

 _ **...i...s...e...spi...ee….he…**_

Kirby was lying unconscious next to a tree, inadvertently muttering to himself.

 _ **Bli...est...ents….**_

Kirby blinked awake to the sounds of voices in his head. He stood up and looked around. He found himself in a large forest, the sky showing bright stars. Kirby scratched his head, wondering where he was. He knew this was a dream, yet it felt so real to him…

 _ **Spi...ro...by…**_

Kirby jumped slightly. There were the voices again! "Hello? Is anyone there?" Kirby called out, attempting to find the cause of the voices.

 _ **Kir...by…**_

"Yes, that's me! Please! I need to know!" Kirby cried, desperate for answers.

 _ **I...s…..g…..r…..d….**_

Lights began to shine all around kirby, making him feel faint. When he looked up, he saw a small being. He did not have a lot of time to analyze it, but from what he could tell, it was a small white bipedal creature with long ears, a cat-like tail, and two antenne-looking objects on its head. Before he could inspect it any further, he fell unconscious once more.

Kirby awoke in his bed with a slight leap. He looked out the window, and was greeted with the morning sun. He blinked a few times, trying to recall his dream. Wondering if his it was an abnormality, Kirby ran out to check on the fountain of dreams, the source of all the dreams of Dream Land. When he got there, it showed no signs of corruption. In fact, it seemed better than before since Kirby defeated Nightmare-an evil demon who tried to bring nightmares to the citizens of Dream Land-using the star rod, the source of the fountian's power. _If the fountain of dreams is all right, why did I receive that dream?_ Kirby wondered. After thinking for a few minutes, he asked Bandana Waddle Dee for advice. "Why do you think I had that dream?" Kirby asked Bandana waddle dee after explaining the situation.

"I...don't really know." Bandana Waddle Dee replied. "I'd say that dream could be a sign if you remember it so well. Maybe if you wait a little, you might see something new."

Kirby asked the same thing to Meta knight and King Dedede, and they both had nearly the same answer. After thinking about his dream for a little, he spent the rest of the day on the tropical shores of Onion Ocean. When the sun started to set, Kirby walked back to his house, the moon starting to rise when he got home. Kirby jumped in bed, and put on his nightcap. He remembered Bandana Waddle Dee's advice, and tried his hardest to remember his dream last night. After a few minutes, he dozed off, a bubble forming around his mouth. " **Kirby...please save the Blind Forest…"** a voice echoed in Kirby's house as Kirby started to glow, then unexpectedly disappeared into light. The light shined into King Dedede's bedroom, where its owner was sleeping in a king-size bed, dreaming about being the biggest movie star in pop star. "Ngh...you forgot to turn the flash off…err..." Dedede muttered in his sleep.


	2. Arrival in Nibel

Chapter 1: Arrival in Nibel

Everything was dark. The skies of nibel were pitch-black, save for the very frequent lightning strikes of the great storm, tearing apart the forest below. As the storm raged, a small yellow glowing light could be seen flying across the storming clouds. It was the warp star, a certain star warrior's primary method of transportation. On the warp star, Kirby was unconscious, soon awakening to a giant crash of lightning. Kirby leapt up in the air, but had to grab on the warp star, Immediately realizing he was in the sky. Lightning was crashing all around him, bringing an abundance of questions to kirby's mind. Where was he? Why is he flying on a warp star in a storm? Was this a dream? Why does it feel so real? Kirby's mind buzzed with all of the questions as the wind whipped kirby and his warp star through the air. By this time, kirby was hanging on the edge of his warp star, nearly on the edge of falling. The wind and rain was blowing kirby and the warp star everywhere besides the direction they wanted to go.

And then it happened. The true beginning of kirby's adventure. The wind blew the warp star upward, and a giant bolt of lightning struck kirby's warp star, causing it to electrocute for a split second, then exploded into four pieces, all falling down below to the earth. With no way to keep him in the air, kirby could do nothing except for flail in the air as he fell down to the world of Nibel. "HELP MEEEEeee…..!" kirby shouted as he plummeted to the ground. Although the fall lasted for less than eight minutes, it felt like he fell for hours. Kirby, with his eyes shut tight, thrashed through the air uncontrollably. After a few minutes of falling, Kirby opened his eyes and took a quick glance at the gigantic forest he was falling to. One thing that caught his eye was a small glowing leaf that passed through the air, but he did not give it much thought, as he was falling nearly 2000 feet from the air. Kirby was so overcome with panic that he fell unconscious in the air, leaving him to the mercy of the storm. He fell into some branches, then dropped onto the forest floor, gravely injured from his fall.

...

...

" _It sounded like it came from over here…"_

" _Are you sure? The star warrior could be anywhere...it should have been back there near the lake...wait, is this him?"_

" _Yes! This is him! The one the spirit tree sent!"_

" _The spirit tree sent this one? He does not look very capable…"_

" _Do not underestimate him. He has saved his world countless times from threats bigger than this, he is a very strong warrior."_

" _My apologies. That was insolent of me."_

" _Come, now. We must do as we are tasked. Let us heal him with the light."_

…

…

" _*pant* *pant* That is all we can do for now. We must let fate decide whether he lives or dies."_

" _I hope this young warrior can save our world, if he has truly saved his world countless times. Speaking of which, what is the star warrior's name? It started with a K, did it not?"_

" _His name is Kirby. Come, let us return to the spirit tree."_

…

…

…

…

 _A few hours later…_

The sun was starting to rise in the skies on Nibel, awakening a certain star warrior from unconsciousness. As the sunlight shone through the leaves onto Kirby, he rubbed his eyes and took a moment to regain his memory of what happened. He remembered falling from the sky after his warp Star was destroyed by a giant bolt of lightning. He shook his head and stared off at the distance, wondering where he was. He saw a giant glowing tree, which seemed to be the biggest one in the forest. Kirby decided that would be a good place to search, and set off to find his warp star pieces.

As Kirby ran along the forest floor, he looked around, admiring the amount of nature in the new world he ended up in. Although getting back to pop star was his first priority, he decided it would not hurt to explore this new world he was transported to. He saw a lot of new terrain and nature in this world that he had never seen in pop star. He saw trees that were ten times higher than the ones you would see in pop star. The lakes harbored much plant and aquatic life. He hopped in the water to explore the new kinds of species of life in the water. He saw new creatures and birds in this world. Overall, it took Kirby a few minutes to reach the big tree that he saw earlier to start his search. When he got there, he saw an abundance of small white creatures near the giant tree. At first the spirits were slightly intimidated by Kirby, saying unusual things.

"What is that thing?"

"Why is that thing have stubby arms?"

"It looks very peculiar…"

Kirby walked up to one of the spirits to ask about his warp star pieces. "Have you seen a small glowing yellow object fall around here?" He asked the spirit.

"The only small yellow object I have seen of the sort fall on top of the spirit tree." The spirit replied.

"Spirit tree?" Kirby replied.

"The spirit tree is the heart of all of nibel. It is what keeps the light alive. You do not know of the spirit tree?" The spirit replied with bewilderment.

"No, I'm afraid I don't. It's a long story. I'll explain later. You said it fell on the spirit tree, right? Where is it?" Kirby asked.

The spirit made a slight chuckle. "It's right next to you!" The spirit said pointing to the side. Kirby looked in the direction, and there was the giant glowing tree he saw earlier. "Be careful, though! It's quite troublesome to climb the tree!"

Kirby simply hopped in the air and floated upward to the top of the spirit tree. The spirit was left with his mouth wide open in awe at Kirby's ability.

The spirit tree was huge. It took Kirby nearly two minutes to float up to the top of the tree. When he looked around, he saw what made him realize luck could not be more kind to him. It was a piece of his warp star! Kirby picked it up and danced around a little. Kirby then looked to the spirit tree and nodded. "Thank you, spirit tree, for finding my warp star piece."

Kirby jumped down back to the ground and looked at the spirits staring at him. Kirby stood back a little. The spirits neither approached nor backed away from Kirby. They just stared out of curiosity.

"Hi! My name is Kirby. I'm a star warrior. I was just looking for the pieces to my warp star. I mean you no harm, I am simply on a search for my warp star pieces." Kirby said, attempting to make a clean image of himself.

The spirits smiled, knowing Kirby was of no threat to them. One spirit even went to Kirby and offered him a bit of fruit, to which Kirby gladly accepted. "Welcome to Nibel, Kirby. You are free to stay here as long as you wish." The spirit said.

"Thank you." Kirby replied.

It had been a few days since Kirby landed in nibel. Kirby had gotten along with the locals of the spirit tree, the spirit guardians of nibel. The spirit guardians provided Kirby with hospitality and shelter. But, even with the help of the spirits, Kirby had searched far and wide for his warp star pieces to no avail. That night, after searching the fields near the Ginso tree, he walked back to spirit tree to see the guardians all speaking about the spirit tree's loss.

"The spirit tree has lost ori?"

"It must have been the great storm."

"Where is ori now?"

"How did he separate from the tree?"

Kirby walked up to a spirit to ask it about the commotion about this spirit that was lost.

"Who is this spirit that was lost?" Kirby asked the spirit.

"It is ori, a spirit who was lost in the great storm. The spirit tree is going to attempt to call him any minute now through the light ceremony." The spirit replied.

 _Light ceremony?_ Kirby thought. Before he could think about it any more, the spirits began to gather around the spirit tree to prepare for the light ceremony. Kirby decided to gather with the spirits for the light ceremony in order to prove his loyalty to the spirit tree. The spirit guardians were all gathered at the tree, and Kirby standing alongside them, listening to the spirits' conversations. The spirits all talked about wether or not the light ceremony would be successful in bringing ori back. After a few minutes of preparation,the spirit tree began to glow, its light stretching all across Nibel. The light stretched far and wide across Nibel, all searching for the tree's lost child. Kirby and the spirits all stared at the spirit tree's core, watching the light stretch across Nibel for a few minutes. Little did they know, something very tragic would occur in a very short time…

As the light stretched across Nibel in search for Ori, Kirby decided to look around for Ori himself. He looked around for a short time with no luck of finding Ori. Kirby gazed up at the sky, where we saw something from the mountains flying straight at the spirit tree at full speed. _What is that?_ Kirby wondered. Was it a bird? Was it a plane? These questions buzzed around Kirby's head for a brief moment, when he realized, it was a bird. An owl, to be exact. It was a huge owl with oily-black feathers and white glowing eyes. The owl let out a cry that caused all the spirits to turn around and flee screaming. Kirby, overcome with panic, attempted to warn the spirits, but there was no need. The owl had already landed and was killing hundreds of the spirit guardians who had been so helpful to Kirby. Kirby stared in horror, terror fixing himself to the ground, as the owl was wreaking havoc on all of the spirits. It was on a rampage, killing all of the spirits who had been so kind to provide shelter to Kirby and crushing them all with its talons. As soon as the owl stared up onto the spirit tree's core, Kirby jumped up and rapidly floated up to the top in an attempt to save the core of the spirit tree. The owl had already beaten him to it, having flown up to the top before Kirby had. "Hey! You leave that core alone or else you're gonna get it!" Kirby bravely shouted at the owl. Despite the fact that Kirby was willing to defend the spirit tree's core to the bitter end, he admitted he was scared out of his shorts. The owl screeched at him and flew up in the air, ready to strike Kirby. Kirby noticed some feathers in the air, and he knew now was the time to demonstrate how he was able to save pop star all this time.

Kirby inhaled the feathers and transformed into wing Kirby within two seconds. Yes, this was Kirby's special talent known as copy ability. Whenever Kirby inhales certain objects or enemies, he can take on their abilities. Kirby flew into the air to contest the owl. He flew over at full speed to the owl and bashed it in the chest, to which it responded with a swipe of the talons, knocking Kirby back down to the ground. He hopped back up and flew over to the owl and shot feathers from his wing at the owl. The feathers did nothing as the owl simply flapped it's wings and blew Kirby and the feathers back to the spirit tree. Kirby and the owl clashed on for a few moments, with the owl either deflecting or blocking all of Kirby's attacks. After one last attempt to strike the owl with a condor dive, the owl simply grabbed Kirby and threw him onto the top of the spirit tree, knocking Kirby out.

The owl then proceeded to reach into the spirit tree's core with its gargantuan talons, pulling out the core with little effort. The core released a shockwave, waking kirby into reality. Kirby rubbed his eyes, then they immediately widened at what he saw. The owl had already removed the core from the tree and was flying away with it. "NO! STOP!" Kirby shouted, running after the owl flying away. He could not get very far, as he forgot he was on top of the spirit tree. He fell off of the spirit tree onto the ground, landing with a "THWUNK" onto the ground. He could only stare in horror as the owl carrying the core flew further and further away from him. His ability had been knocked out of him when the owl knocked him out. A blanket of darkness pulled over Kirby's eyes, and he fell back into nothingness.

This was how the forest lost its light.


	3. Kirby and the blind forest

Chapter 2: Kirby and the blind forest

How long had it been since Kirby had landed here? A few weeks? Maybe a month. Kirby had not been able to keep track of time since his failed attempt to save the spirit tree's core. Since the owl had flown away with the core, Kirby had put his warp star search aside to find the spirit tree's core. He had looked in all of the locations that the owl had flown in search of the core. But every time Kirby thought he had a lead, he would always come back empty-handed. After searching Thornfelt swamp for the core, Kirby returned to the spirit tree to rest up for a little. Kirby had been alone for quite some time now. Nearly all of the spirits were killed by the attack of the owl, leaving kirby with no one to talk to. Kirby looked up at the forest, and he saw something that would break his heart for the rest of his life.

The forest was dying.

Kirby had not actually noticed the forest decaying since the loss of the core. He had been so wrapped up in his searching for the core that he had not noticed the forest around him slowly withering. Kirby picked up a brown leaf, and it broke apart upon him touching it. Disheartened, Kirby turned to spirit tree. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to save your core...I-I should have tried harder to protect you..." Kirby said, jerking a few tears from him. He sniffled and rubbed his eyes for a brief moment, before blinking away remaining tears. _Crying won't get me anywhere,_ Kirby thought. _I need to find the core so I can save the forest!_ And with those words, Kirby set out once again to find the core. He decided to search the final possible place the owl had dropped the core: sunken glades. Kirby walked from the spirit tree to the mangroves of the glade, and searched for about 3 hours with little success. However, he did come upon something else. Kirby had searched the tall grass and the treetops for the core, but found nothing but dry leaves. Kirby decided to go back to the spirit tree to think of a new plan, but he saw a glowing blue light within some dry leaves. Thinking it was the core, Kirby's eyes sparkled as he rushed over to the leaves, brushed them off, and picked up the blue object, but a puzzled expression was left on his face when he took a closer look at the object. It was a small blue sphere, one-third the size of Kirby, and it looked full of energy. Kirby was about to assume this was the core, but the object broke up into a few small crystals that floated around Kirby. Kirby jumped back,startled, as the crystals floated into Kirby's body. He felt an unusual light within him. It made him feel...stronger. Not mentally or physically, but somehow, he felt something. Kirby disregarded it as a mere coincidence and continued his search.

It had been 5 hours since that unusual light incident. Kirby had no luck finding the spirit tree's core, so he went back to the spirit tree to think of a new strategy to save the forest. He looked at the nearly dead spirit tree, then the rest of the forest. There was no light in the spirit tree. Or the rest of the forest. _The only thing that has light at this point is my warp star piece..._ Kirby thought. _Wait...light...star piece...spirit tree...Nibel…_ "I got it!" Kirby shouted to himself. Kirby ran to the place where he first fell into Nibel weeks ago, and he saw it. His warp star piece. _Okay, here's the plan._ Kirby thought. _I use the warp star piece as a backup power source...this will buy me time to find the core. And when I do find the core, I take out my warp star piece and return the core to the spirit tree!_

Kirby smiled to himself as he picked up the piece and began to walk to the tree. and began to walk to the spirit tree. As Kirby walked to the spirit tree, he had several visions of himself with the spirits. He saw himself running with the spirits, all playing tag. He smiled. He would be able to once again experience the memories when the core was returned. He saw the spirit that had welcomed him to Nibel give him the fruit, to which Kirby happily devoured. As he approached the spirit tree, he saw himself floating upward to the tree to find his warp star piece. Kirby could not float while holding something, so he walked up a vine that lead to the spirit tree. He looked down from the vine, and saw yet another vision of himself. He was sleeping with two spirits on the forest floor, the imaginary moonlight shining on them.

After a minute of climbing, Kirby had finally reached the top of the spirit tree. He walked up to the spirit tree, waving around his warp star piece in the air. "Spirit tree! I found a backup core!" Kirby said jubilantly. The spirit tree did not seem to have a response. Thinking it was the lack of light, Kirby tossed the warp star piece into the hole where the core once was, but nothing happened. Puzzled, Kirby tapped on the spirit tree. It did not produce light once again. It did not make Nibel's light shine once more. It could not produce light. It could not make Nibel's light shine once more. Panicking, Kirby rubbed the tree worriedly, hoping for a response. Something. ANYTHING. But no response did come from the tree. Kirby started to weep uncontrollably when the dreadful conclusion came to him.

The spirit tree was dead.

Kirby had no more reason to stay in the spirit tree's presence. He had failed. He had failed to save the forest. Twice. Kirby had ran away from the tree in order to find...something. He had no specific destination he wanted to go to. Just to simply find somewhere. A way to restore the light. Kirby walked into a cave of some sort, and inside was a dead corpse of a bear-like creature with a mask-like face. Kirby put his hand on the body, and mourned for a brief moment.

 _Poor creature…_ Kirby thought. _Guess she suffered from the loss of the light too…_ Kirby turned around and exited the cave, but not before turning around to look at the corpse once more.

As Kirby walked across the blinded forest, He heard a small cry for help. It was not very big, but it was enough for Kirby to hear. Immediately taking action, Kirby ran as fast as he possibly could to where he heard the small cry. After a few moments of running, he saw a very small light. It was coming from some spiked brambles that were glowing an odd scarlet-red. But among the brambles was a small white bipedal creature with a face and a tail similar to a cat, but it had very long ears and two antenne-looking objects on its head. Its hands had three fingers on each end. Its eyes were black with white glowing pupils and it had two small hooves on the bottom of its feet.

"Please...please...help...me…" The spirit softly uttered. Its voice was small and light. the spirit seemed to be a small young child who had lost a lot of its physical health. "This poor spirit...what happened to you?" Kirby said as he carefully moved the brambles aside to help the spirit get out. The spirit slowly crawled out of the brambles now that it had a clear path out. "Can you stand?" Kirby asked the spirit. "I...I think so…" the spirit replied as he attempted to stand upright, but the spirit stumbled and rolled down a small ledge, hitting its head on a stone. "NO! Oh no, oh no, oh no, are you alright?!" Kirby said, picking up the spirit from the stone. "N...no...it...it hurts…" the spirit uttered, a few tears running from its eyes. It Pained Kirby so much to see this spirit like this. Kirby lifted the spirit off the ground, reassuring the spirit that things would be perfectly fine.

"You're gonna be okay...you're gonna be okay…" Kirby repeated to the spirit as he carried it to the spirit tree. _Maybe if I can return this spirit to the tree, it will be fine..._ Kirby thought as he carried the spirit.

"Th...thank you…" the spirit softly spoke, attempting to smile to Kirby. "My...my name…is Ori...wh...what's yours…?" The spirit asked.

"My...name? Oh! It's-it's Kirby." Kirby replied. Ori was about the same size and weight as Kirby, so Kirby had a little trouble carrying Ori. _Wait a minute…_ Kirby thought, realizing he may be on to something. "Is he spirit tree your father?" Kirby hesitantly asked as he carried Ori.

"Y...yes…how did...you know?" Ori weakly responded. "I-It's a long story. We need to get you to the spirit tree." Kirby said. "...I...can't...b...breathe…too...weak…" Ori uttered after Kirby carried him for a short distance.

"No...no! Please don't die! Ori, please!" Kirby shouted with panic. Ori started to slip from Kirby's round hands, making no effort to hang onto Kirby. "Th...thank...you...f...for...saving...m...me…I'm...sorry…I...I wasn't...s...strong...enough...g...good...bye…K...Kir...by..." Ori managed to utter as his eyes closed for what seemed to be the final time. Ori's last breath was drawn as his corpse slipped from Kirby's grasp and laid there on the log Kirby was on. Kirby could not believe it.

He had failed. Again. First to save the spirit tree's core, then to save this young spirit. Kirby was so overwhelmed by his failure that he knelt down and silently wept as tears fell from his eyes to the lifeless body of Ori.

Just when he was about to give up hope and die in this melancholy world he was in, a small white glowing flower bloomed from the side of Ori's body. Kirby looked up from the ground, and almost immediately another white flower bloomed, and another, and another, and another. Soon the space between Ori and the spirit tree was blooming with white glowing flowers, and the spirit tree was glowing as if it was never dead. Kirby's eyes widened as the spirit tree started to glow brighter than ever, and the light reached out to Kirby and Ori, lifting them from the air. A light started to shine between them, and both Ori and Kirby were brought closer and closer to the light. When they reached the light, Kirby started to feel a sort of physical connection to Ori, and then he felt as if his soul was being enhanced in some way. Or rather, being connected in some way. Was his soul bonding with Ori's? Before he could think about it any more, the entire area shone brightly, knocking Kirby unconscious.

And this is the beginning of the epic tale of Kirby, Ori, and the blind forest.


	4. The adventure begins

Chapter 3: The adventure begins

Kirby's foot twitched as light from the flowers woke him, rubbing his eyes upon awakening. Kirby looked to the left of him and saw Ori begin to wake up as well. He lifted his chest from the ground with little effort as he stood up and looked around. "Wh...What? How am I alive…?" Ori asked himself as he rubbed his head. Kirby was not sure if Ori remembered him, so he stayed silent for a moment, before calling to him silently. "Umm...h...hey…" Kirby nervously stuttered. Ori turned around and flinched lightly at the sight of Kirby, but calmed down when he remembered what Kirby did for him. "Umm...hello Kirby. How did I come back from the dead?" Ori asked. "I...don't know. All I remember is seeing you in those brambles...and then I saw a ton of light…I don't remember the rest…" Kirby replied. "...I...see…" Ori remarked, looking around the forest worriedly. "So...where do you suppose we go?" Ori asked. "To be honest...I-I don't know. Maybe if we travel far enough, we might find something." Kirby said. Ori thought for a moment. Realizing they did not have any other choice, Ori nodded and went along with Kirby's idea. They truly had no choice but to find a way to restore the light. And with that, Kirby and Ori set out to sunken glades.

As ori and Kirby traveled along the grassy floors of sunken glades, they had encountered odd spiked plants, ropes and platforms, and small hazards. Ori and Kirby came across poisonous water as well. It hurt to touch it. As Kirby and Ori traversed the glades,and after fighting an enemy that appeared out of nowhere being crushed by some rocks, they traveled up a log. At the end of the log, There was some light shining on a small glowing object. "Hey Ori, what's that light?" Kirby asked.

"I don't know, we should examine it just to be safe…" Ori responded. Kirby walked up to the small light, Ori following him. They picked up the tiny light, and it immediately started to rise in the air and glow a brilliant blue before releasing a giant shockwave that spread all across sunken glades, Kirby jumping out of surprise. The light floated left, then right, then it started to speak. "My strength...is returning…" the light said. _It can talk?_ Kirby thought. "Umm...excuse me...but, who are you?" Kirby asked.

"I am Sein, the light and the eyes of the Spirit Tree." Sein responded. "I was lost in this glen when she loosened her grip." With those words, realization hit Kirby's eyes.

"Wait a minute...so are you what the owl dropped a few weeks back?" Kirby asked.

"Yes, Kuro dropped me into this glade. I greatly appreciate your efforts to rescue me." Sein responded.

Kirby looked down and sighed. "I'm sorry I didn't try hard enough to rescue you from that ow-I mean Kuro…" Kirby said.

"Do not blame yourself. You were at a great disadvantage, Kirby. Kuro was much bigger and stronger than you." Kirby calmed down a little. At least Sein was kind enough to forgive him. "Nevertheless, I can guide you on your journey, if you will allow me to come." Sein said, breaking Kirby's train of thought. Ori nodded and said,

"Of course! We wish to restore the light. We could use a guide." Kirby smiled and nodded. He was more than happy to let Sein come. But immediately after, the small snap of a twig was heard.

"But be still, can you hear that? They must have followed you here!" Sein notified. A deep growl was heard, and before Kirby could turn around, Ori and Sein were fighting a small monkey-like creature jumping around, attempting to crush Ori. Sein began to shoot blue flames at the creature. Killing it within a few shots. Another appeared behind Kirby and started to jump at him, but a few small blue flames killed that one as well. Kirby looked behind him and saw Sein shooting the flames at the creatures. Kirby decided to help him out by inhaling a creature and spitting it out at another. Sein saw the creature Kirby spat out flying past it and moved to the side, the first creature hitting the second, killing them both. "What was that?" Sein asked. Kirby waved and said, "Oh! That was me! I...I can defend myself just fine you know…"

"How were you able to send that stomper flying to the other?" Sein asked.

"It's my special ability, inhale. I can inhale enemies and spit them out at others. I can swallow them too, but I'll explain later." Kirby responded.

"Remarkable…" Sein breathed. After a few moments of silence, Sein spoke with a softening tone, "'Their lights shall return to me,' these words the spirit tree once said."

"Where can we find him?" Ori asked. "In the glade past the caverns, we'll find him, there's a path up ahead!" Sein replied. And with those words, Kirby, Ori, and Sein set out to find the spirit tree.

As Kirby, Ori, and Sein traveled back through where they came from, Ori saw a strange spiked plant on a bulb. Sein shot 3 blue flames at it, destroying it and exposing the bulb. Kirby jumped on it and rocketed into the air a few meters before falling back down on the ground.

"Whoa! That was crazy!" Kirby exclaimed. Ori jumped on the bulb and reached the top of a small cliff, Kirby following shortly thereafter. After a bit of running, Kirby and Ori came across a stone gate blocking their path. "The spirit gate blocks us...they were built for protection before the times of decay." Sein said.

"How do we unlock it?" Ori asked.

"The required keystones must be nearby. To reach the Spirit Tree, we must pass the Spirit Caverns that lie beyond this gate." Sein responded. "Let us split up. Kirby, you find the keystone on the right, Ori and I will find the keystone on the top." Kirby nodded and ran over to the entrance of Sunken Glades and found a small boulder. He pulled it to the side and found a small floating rock with a glowing white line. He picked it up and ran back to the spirit gate, Ori having found the second keystone. They each inserted one keystone in the slots, the spirit gate opening shortly thereafter. Kirby and Ori traveled to the spirit caverns, unaware of what dangers would stand in their way.

After passing a sign post, Kirby saw two small slug-like creatures with spiked coats covering them. They began to shoot spikes at Ori, who was having trouble dodging them. Kirby got an idea and ran up to one. The slug noticed Kirby and just as it was about to shoot Kirby, he inhaled the slug whole and transformed into needle Kirby, wearing a needle-covered pink cap with a yellow brim and a strap. "What was that?" Ori exclaimed. "That was my copy ability technique. I'm needle Kirby now!" Kirby responded.

"Remarkable! You can inhale enemies and take on their abilities! I bet we can use this to get to a lot of places now!" Sein remarked. Kirby used his needle ability to stab the other spiked slug, killing it instantly. All that was left of it were a few small yellow orbs. Ori walked up to them, and the orbs absorbed into His skin. Although Kirby was not the one who collected them, he felt a small light fill up within him, as if he was the one collecting the light. "What were those?" Ori asked.

"That was spirit light. Use it to gain ability points to obtain new abilities." Sein responded. Kirby thought of something.

"Could I absorb spirit light and get new abilities too?" He asked. "...I doubt it. You are not a part of the light, so I do not think you would be able to obtain new abilities like Ori can." Sein replied.

"Then why did I feel like something filled up in me when Ori collected them?" Kirby asked. "You did?" Sein responded. "Hmm...maybe answers will come to us sooner or later. Right now, we must continue on our journey." Ori nodded and made a small blue fire on the ground. Kirby jumped back from Ori when he made the fire, gasping a little. "What was that?!" Kirby yelped.

"Oh, sorry. That was a soul link. I can use it to come back to life if I perish." Ori responded "I'm normally supposed to find an ability cell to make one of these, but I was somehow able to create one even without it…" Kirby thought of something. "What is does an ability cell look like?" Kirby asked.

"It looks like a round blue container of light, you usually find them on the ground." Sein responded. "Though it puzzles me how Ori was able to create a soul link even though we never found one…"

Kirby remembered finding the ability cell on the ground while searching for Sein a while back. With that thought, Kirby began to think that his soul was truly bonded with Ori's soul. Kirby decided not to think too much about the soul situation and press on.

As Kirby and Ori walked, Ori decided to strike up a conversation. "So Kirby, where exactly did you come from?" Ori asked. "Well...it's kind of hard to explain...I'm not exactly from this world." Kirby responded. This response puzzled Ori. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's a planet called Pop Star, and I live in a country there called Dream Land. It's a nice little place, you'd like it. There's nice open fields, forests and beaches, things like that." Ori was intrigued by this place Kirby talked about. "That place sounds...nice. I think I would want to visit Dream Land if I could. Speaking of which, How did you get here anyway?"

Kirby scratched his head. "Well...I found myself flying on my warp star in a storm, then it was struck by lightning, and I fell into this forest...I met some spirits and they helped me find the first of my warp star pieces." Kirby said. "Pardon my interruption, but what is your warp star?" Sein asked.

"My warp star is basically my main method of transportation around here. It's a big yellow star that I use to fly around on." Kirby stated. "As i said earlier, I found my first warp star piece earlier, but I haven't had any luck finding any others…"

"Don't worry Kirby. I am sure your warp star pieces are somewhere in Nibel. We should look out for them on our quest to restore the light." Sein said.

As Kirby and Ori traveled across the spirit caverns, they came across an odd stone structure with a glowing pedestal. Ori walked up to it and asked, "what is this?"

"That is a spirit well. Use it to replenish your strength whenever you are weary." Sein responded. Kirby walked onto the spirit well with Ori on it. The well shone with a bright light, and it healed Ori and Kirby instantly. Kirby looked at himself and smiled. As he did, he and Ori darted back to adventure.

Kirby and Ori climbed down into a small cave, where inside, they saw a small glowing tree, similar to the spirit tree, but much smaller. It seemed to call out to them somehow. Sein floated to the small tree and stood for a moment. "The light of the spirit tree lives in all of us. He's the reason we're alive, he's the reason we grow." Sein said. "Many years past, we were attacked, wounded, and killed by our foe. Now these ancestral trees are all that's left."

Kirby felt bad for the spirit in the tree. If it wasn't for Kuro, things would be perfectly fine. "Poor little spirit…" Kirby said to himself. Ori patted Kirby on his back in an attempt to comfort him.

"Do not fear, Kirby. The spirit will live on through the light of the spirit tree." Sein said. Kirby smiled a little. "Now come and feel the light of Fil, the spirit inside." Sein said, reassuring Kirby that things will be fine. Kirby and Ori walked up to the tree, which began to send light Into their bodies. A shockwave occurred after a few moments, giving Ori and Kirby a new ability.

 **You learned wall jump! As Ori, use wall jump to scale up walls! As Kirby, use wall jump to jump off walls to restore a little bit of float energy!**

Kirby looked up on a wall, and floated upward to the wall, jumping on the wall along the way. Ori followed, scaling up the wall with his new ability.

Using wall jump, Kirby and Ori made it out of the cave to adventure.

After unlocking a spirit gate using four keystones, Kirby, Ori, and Sein made it to the spirit tree, despite it being dormant and still. Kirby and Ori stared up at the tree, Sein floating upward. Sein floated back down, urgent with a message. "Ori...Kirby...the Spirit Tree! He must have used the last of his strength to save you both…" Sein said.

Kirby thought about how Ori must have suffered from the loss of the light. _Poor little guy..._ he thought.

"Come now and hear our story. It was the night of the Light Ceremony. It was our light she hated…" Sein said. Kirby knew the story already. He most likely could not bear it, but he decided to endure it anyway. What he really wanted to know was Ori's story.

As if by response, Kirby's vision started to blur out, and he fell unconscious. He then began to see visions of the spirit tree in the great storm. _Wait...wasn't I going to hear about the story of the light ceremony?_ Kirby thought. He mentally shrugged and decided to see the vision. He then heard a booming voice in his head,

 **We shall always remember the night….**

 **When I lost Ori to the great storm...**

The spirit tree was blowing all around in the great storm, lightning crashing in the distance. Kirby saw a small glowing leaf on the side of the spirit tree, clinging desperately to the side of the spirit tree. Unfortunately, the wind was too much to bear, resulting in the leaf snapping off the tree and floating off to the unknown. Kirby did not know why, but he felt so sad for the leaf, and it looked so familiar too…

As Kirby stared at the leaf floating through the storm, seemingly crying out for help, he teared up a little, feeling sorry for the familiar leaf. He then realized why this leaf was so familiar. Kirby looked at the stormy skies and saw four small yellow lights and a pink round thing falling from the sky. Kirby realized this was him falling from the sky that fateful night of the storm.

The leaf continued to float by, passing by a gorilla-like creature with a mask-like face. Kirby did not know why, but this creature looked so familiar as well. The creature looked over to the direction of the leaf and walked slowly toward the glowing leaf. After a while of following the leaf, it landed on a small boulder and formed into his friend Ori. The creature picked up Ori, and embraced him.

 **When Naru embraced my light…**

Kirby smiled. He now knew Ori's origins and how he was adopted by this creature. But this brought a puzzling question to kirby's mind. Where was the creature-Naru-now?

 **All will be made clear to you, Kirby…** Kirby heard the booming voice again. Kirby was just watching a vision, so he could not see where the voice was coming from. He continued to watch the vision, seeing Ori and Naru bonding. They built a bridge to trees bearing a lot of fruit. He even saw the light ceremony from afar, before Naru picked up Ori and headed into her cave. _So that's why Ori couldn't make it to the Spirit Tree..._ Kirby thought.

A few weeks passed after that, resulting the forest becoming more and more devoid of life. There was a tremendous shortage of food in the forest now, leaving Naru to go hungry. Naru left the cave to search for food with little success. After falling from a tree attempting to get the fruit on top, she headed back to the cave, where there was only one fruit left. She picked it up, then gave it to Ori, who kindly declined it when Ori tried to offer it to her. Ori knew she needed to eat, so he set out for more fruit.

Ori ventured out, seeing a few fruit on a branch. Ori crawled into the trunk bearing the fruit, and emerged onto the top of the branch with fruit. Ori shook the branch, making the fruit fall and land on the grass. Ori picked up the fruit and carried it back to the cave for Naru, hoping that she would survive. When Ori arrived, he happily held out the fruit for Naru, but there was no response. Kirby started to worry. Although this was only a vision, he felt so scared. He felt Naru's pain and suffering. Ori did not get a response from Naru, so he walked up to her. _She must be sleeping…_ Kirby heard Ori's thoughts. Ori held the fruit for Naru, but still got no response. And when Naru fell over on the ground, Kirby realized why Naru was not with Ori.

Naru was dead.

The last thing he saw after coming to consciousness was Ori walking out of the cave, and venturing out to the forest by himself with no reason to stay. Kirby's eyes began to water as his vision began to blur out from unconsciousness. The sounds around him all faded away, and all he could hear was his heart pumping from fear, and a voice echoing through the abyss. _Kirby….Kirby...Kirby…!_

Kirby awoke slowly to Sein and Ori Calling out his name. "Kirby...Kirby! Wake up!" Ori shouted.

Kirby opened his eyes to see Ori's worried expression. Kirby recalled his vision, and teared up. He then tackled Ori with a hug, tears flowing from his eyes. "Ori...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry that happened to you…!" Kirby cried out with all of his heart.

Kirby's sudden reaction startled Ori, causing him to back up a little. "Kirby...what happened? What did you see?" Ori asked.

"The f...forest...N...Naru...she...I...I'm so sorry…" Kirby cried.

Sein realized something. "Kirby...tell me, what did you see?" Sein asked.

Kirby explained the entire vision of what he saw, detail by detail. "...it would seem Kirby has learned of your past, Ori." Sein said to Ori. "That would explain why he is so sad…"

Ori walked over to Kirby and patted him on the back in an attempt to comfort him. "Hey, Kirby...it's gonna be okay…." Ori said. Kirby looked up at Ori and sniffed.

"N...no it's not...Naru's dead...you'll never see her again…" Kirby cried. Kirby looked down on the ground and wept. Ori did not know what to do. He looked at Sein, then back to Kirby.

"Hey Kirby? I'm pretty sure there once we restore the elements, we can use the light to bring naru back somehow…" Ori said.

Kirby looked up from the ground at ori with tears in his eyes. "Y-you really mean it…?" Kirby sniffled.

Ori nodded. "Positive." He said. He lifted Kirby's head, then embraced him with a hug.

Kirby stood there for a second, Ori's hug filling him with hope once more, then hugged Ori back. The two friends embraced each other and smiled. Kirby and Ori let go of each other, the looked at Sein to what he had to say.

"You both received the spirit tree's light, he put our fate in your hands. Listen carefully now, for you must understand. The spirit tree sustained the three elements of light, and in turn they brought balance kept Nibel safe. The Element of Water, high atop the Ginso Tree. The Element of Winds, deep within the Forlorn Ruins. The Element is Warmth, beneath the fires of Mount Horu. To restore Nibel to its previous state, we must rekindle their light before it's too late. The first we will find beyond the Spider Coves, atop the tree where the waters once flowed."

Kirby and Ori nodded, and then set out to spider coves for the Ginso Tree.


	5. Spider coves

Chapter 4: Spider Coves

Kirby and Ori were dashing across the forest, covering ground rather quickly. Sein was right behind them, ready to protect Kirby and Ori from whatever came their way. As Kirby and Ori ran, Kirby saw something pass by that caught his eye. It was something rolling really fast and it had a big eye in the center of it. It was a giant tire with four exhaust fumes at the back. Kirby stopped running, having a double take at the enemy. Ori and Sein stopped as well, turning back to get Kirby.

"Kirby, what's wrong?" Sein asked.

Kirby looked worriedly at sein and asked, "Hey Sein, are Wheelies native to Nibel?"

"What is a wheelie? And why do you ask?" Sein responded questioningly.

"Because there's one right there." Kirby said as he pointed to the Wheelie. The Wheelie noticed Kirby and began to charge at Kirby, but got knocked back by Sein's spirit flames. "Kirby! Try to inhale the Wheelie!" Ori shouted.

Kirby nodded at Ori and ran up to the wheelie and inhaled the wheelie, transforming into wheel Kirby, bearing a red cap with a star on the brim. He then saw another wheelie and three sir kibbles as well. The sir kibbles looked a little like Kirby, except the looked more like knights in armor and a small blade on top of their heads. They noticed Ori and started to threw their blades at him. Ori jumped over one blade, but was hit by another. Sein shot a few blue flames at one, while Kirby used the wheel ability to run over the other. Both the sir kibbles and the wheelie were defeated thanks to Kirby and Sein's efforts.

"Well, That was certainly something...enemies of my world appearing in nibel?" Kirby said.

Ori was confused about what Kirby said. "What do you mean native to your world?" He asked.

"I don't really know why enemies of my world are in this world," Kirby replied. "What do you think, Sein?"

Sein thought for a moment, before saying, "I have no clue how this is possible...maybe answers will come soon. For now we must continue on our journey."

Ori nodded with Kirby, then ran into the deeper parts of spider coves.

After fighting a few more enemies, Kirby saw Ori make another soul link, igniting a small blue fire on the ground. Kirby decided to ask Ori how to make a soul link. "Hey, Ori. About those soul links...how exactly do you make them?" Kirby asked.

Ori was slightly puzzled by Kirby's question. "You want to try to make a soul link?" Ori asked. Kirby nodded. "Okay, so what you have to do is, you have to concentrate your light toward a single part of your body, and you make a soul link if you have energy." Ori explained.

Kirby had light in his body since the spirit tree bonded Kirby and Ori's souls together, so he concentrated it toward his hands, then suddenly, a small fire appeared beneath Kirby's feet. Kirby jumped up at the sight of it, yelping a little in the air.

"Kirby, you did it! You made a soul link!" Ori cheered, shaking Kirby's round hand. Kirby beamed. He was so happy now that he knew how to make soul links. Sein noticed the soul link and floated to Kirby.

"Astounding! You both can make soul links!" Sein congratulated. "Kirby, I suppose this means you can absorb spirit light and gain new abilities! Try to get one now using the soul link you just made."

Kirby looked deep into the flame, then channeled spirit light into the fire. The fire sent light into Kirby, allowing him to Inhale enemies faster. Ori smiled at Kirby, then nodded. Kirby and Ori ran back to the coves, ready to take on any enemies that stood In. Their way to restore the element of waters.

Kirby and Ori traversed into a cave whereas they came upon a small ancestral tree. Sein floated to the tree and said, "Ano, the spirit that died here, was strong and courageous. Listen to his voice. He was able to focus our light."

Kirby and Ori walked up to the ancestral tree, Kirby placing his round hand on the tree. "Don't worry, Ano. We'll put your light to good use." Kirby said as he looked up at the tree.

The light from the ancestral tree pulsed as a response, then began to send light into Kirby and Ori's bodies. They began to glow brighter and brighter, before releasing a shockwave.

 **You learned Charge Flame and Super Inhale! As Ori, use Charge Flame to damage everything within a proximity and destroy blue walls! As Kirby, use Super Inhale to inhale obstacles and enemies bigger than you!**

Ori looked at Kirby, then at a blue wall. "Hey, Kirby! Let's go test out our abilities!" He said.

Kirby nodded and ran to the blue wall. He warmed up a little, then inhaled the wall, swallowing it afterward. Ori ran up to a second wall, and sein floated over to the wall, charging up energy. It released the energy a second later, destroying the wall flawlessly. Kirby and Ori ran through the wall, headed for the exit of spider coves and to the Ginso Tree.

Kirby and ori made it to the Ginso Tree after a few platforming minutes. The Tree was huge, almost as big as the Dreamstalk, a beanstalk that took Kirby to Floralia, a kingdom who needed Kirby's heroic traits once. As Ori and Kirby approached the Ginso Tree, they saw a strange creature with an odd appearance, looking like a large four-legged spider with a glowing sphere. The creature noticed them, then dashed off with the sphere.

"What was that?" Kirby asked.

"A Gumon from the Forlorn Ruins! We must follow his steps, we must get what he stole!" Sein said.

"What did he steal? Why is it important?" Kirby asked, walking up to the Ginso Tree.

"The Gumon has stolen the Water Vein, the energy that opens the Ginso Tree!" Sein responded.

Kirby tried to attack the Ginso Tree's door with a stone uppercut using the stone ability he gained from inhaling the wall that blocked their way. The tree remained shut.

"Your attacks will not work, Kirby. Without the Water Vein, the Ginso Tree is closed shut." Sein said.

"Kirby, come on! We need to get the Water Vein!" Ori shouted, running off in the direction the Gumon ran off to. Kirby followed, meeting up with ori near the edge of a cliff. At the edge, the Gumon jumped off with the Water Vein.

"Hey! Come back here!" Kirby shouted, running to the edge. As he reached the edge of the cliff, he stopped and began to slip off the edge, trying to keep his balance. Ori gasped and ran to Kirby, grabbed him by his stubby hands, and pulled him off the edge. Kirby fell back over to solid ground, and looked up to Ori.

"Thanks, Ori." Kirby said with a smile.

"No problem. Just be more careful next time, okay?" Ori responded. "Look, there's another edge we can jump to!"

Ori jumped onto the next edge, Kirby following. They reached the bottom with no trouble and continued on their quest to recover the water vein.

Ori and Kirby came across some unusual enemies that appeared to shoot purple exploding bullets from the ground. Ori looked ahead and saw the Gumon disappear behind a purple wall.

"How do we get across that purple wall?" Kirby thought aloud.

Ori thought for a moment, then got an idea. "Wait here, Kirby." He said.

Ori jumped onto an unstable platform and waited for the purple enemy to come out. When it did, it shot another purple bullet at ori, who dodged it at the last second. The purple bullet blew up the platform causing another enemy to come out and shoot another bullet at ori, as to which ori responded by repeating the process a few times until the chain of bullets reached the purple wall, destroying the wall. "Okay, Kirby! You can come now!" Ori said.

Kirby jumped across platform from platform, reaching Ori. "Good thinking, Ori!" Kirby said.

Ori smiled, but gasped a second later and said, "Kirby, behind you!"

Kirby looked behind and saw a purple bullet headed straight for him! Thinking quickly, Kirby inhaled the bullet to transform into Bomb Kirby, sporting a wizard's hat with a small trail at the top and a blue gem at the base. Kirby created 3 bombs with a puff of smoke and threw it at the purple enemy, blowing it up and leaving only spirit light. Thanks to ori's spirit magnet, the light floated over to Kirby and ori. They both ran off to the next room.

In the next room, Kirby and Ori saw the Gumon run off, avoiding purple lasers along the way. Kirby picked up a rock and threw it on the ground, a laser shortly incinerating it afterward. His eyes widened after the laser fired. "Umm...Ori…? How do we do this…?" Kirby asked.

"Hmm…" Ori muttered. "Okay. Do exactly as I do." Ori jumped off the edge, dodged a purple laser, and escaped to the lower level, dodging another laser at the last second. "Okay Kirby! You can go now!" Ori shouted from the lower level.

Kirby followed Ori's steps, dodging the lasers like ori. Kirby met back up with ori at the end of the room, where they both ran off to regain the stolen Water Vein.

Kirby and Ori made it to a strange bridge, made entirely out of wood. As Ori looked up, he saw the Gumon yet again, this time pulling a lever, making the bridge collapse. Kirby looked below him, suspended in the air for a second, before his feet flailed and fell alongside ori for a few seconds.

"WAAAUUUGH!" Kirby and ori shouted as they fell all the way down into the Gumon's hideout. Kirby and Ori landed on the ground, Sein floating down after them. Ori lifted his head and pulled himself up from the ground, while Kirby got up and dusted himself off. The Gumon landed on the floor and jumped off.

"Where are we?" Ori asked.

"It would seem we have landed in Gumo's hideout…" Sein responded. "Come! Gumo cannot run any further-we must be close to the Water Vein!" Ori and Kirby nodded and ran to find a way out, along with the Water Vein.

After Kirby and Ori got past some crushing blocks and a few enemies, they saw Gumo pounding the ground for a few seconds, before a strange purple enemy popped out of the ground and shot at Ori before disappearing underground. The gate sealed up behind them, trapping Kirby, Ori, and sein inside. The monster was popping in and out of the ground, shooting at both Kirby and Ori. Sein was shooting flames at the monster, and Kirby was inhaling its bullets and spitting them back at it. Soon with a few hits, the monster was defeated, but the fight was not over yet. A strange aura formed on a shining orb of light, which then dissipated to form a strange creature.

The creature was a gorilla in nature, holding a giant hammer and sporting purple armor on its head and chest Kirby's eyes widened as he gasped with realization as to who this was.

"It's Bonkers!" Kirby shouted as Bonkers jumped at him with his hammer. Bonkers then began to spin around with his hammer, headed straight for Ori. Sein shot a few flames at Bonkers, while Ori ran over to the side, making Bonkers hit the wall dazed. Kirby took this opportunity to inhale Bonkers' hammer, transforming him into Hammer Kirby. Hammer Kirby had a blue and white headband and a wood hammer with a star on it. Kirby whacked Bonkers with a hammer flip, killing Bonkers instantly.

"Phew! That was crazy! You all right, Ori?" Kirby asked, wiping his forehead.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a bit dazed from that fight." Ori replied, dusting his arms off. A rumbling was heard, and both gates opened once more, the second gate revealing a Keystone.

"A Keystone!" Sein said. "If there is one here, there must be another nearby."

Kirby and Ori nodded, then ran off find the second keystone.

Kirby and Ori had managed to find the second keystone and open up a spirit gate, where they came upon another ancestral tree.

"An Ancestral Tree...Leru lay here." Sein said. "She was swift, agile, able to cut through the air."

Kirby and Ori walked up to the tree and began to absorb the light. They both landed on the ground, giving them both a new ability.

 **You learned Double jump! As Ori, use double jump to jump even higher in midair! As Kirby, you can now use float to gain a bit of height the air!**

Ori looked up at a small spirit light container on a wall, and decided to test his ability by jumping in the air, then jumping again, a small arrow shooting from underneath. Ori nearly grabbed the container, while Kirby floated up to a wall and found a tomato with a big "M" on it.

Ori climbed the wall Kirby was on and noticed the tomato Kirby was holding.

"Kirby, what is that?" Ori asked.

"Oh! This is a Maximum Tomato. Eat it to restore your health fully." Kirby said.

As ori ate the tomato in one bite, the wounds that he had attained closed up instantly and energized his body. He then ran off with Kirby and Sein.

After jumping around and chasing gumo for a while now, Kirby and Ori had found gumo pulling another lever on the top of a cliff, which then began to drop rocks one by one. Unfortunately, pulling the lever dropped a big rock on gumo, trapping his legs on the rock.

Kirby and ori looked at each other, then nodded. They both knew what they had to do. The rocks kept falling one by one, as Kirby and Ori jumped and floated to the top. All of the rocks varied in size and speed, so they were very unpredictable. A few rocks hit ori, some hit Kirby. After finally making their way to the top, they both rushed to the boulder. Ori walked to Gumo and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"

Gumo shook his head and motioned to the stone on his legs. Kirby noticed and pushed the boulder off of Gumo's legs. He did not know why, but he felt as if something was lurking around here. He brushed it off and pulled the boulder off him, Ori pushing as well. Gumo began to crawl away, and pushed the Water Vein to them. But as he smiled and began to walk off, a great wind began to pull Gumo away from Ori and Kirby.

"What is this wind?!" Sein shouted over the howling wind. Gumo and the Water Vein were being pulled into a giant hollow of a tree. When Gumo and the Water Vein were inside, the hollow closed up, and two more hollows opened up on the bark of the tree. A small pointy branch was between them and the same hollow opened up again. The hollows and the branch made the tree look like a face.

"What kind of tree is this?!" Ori shouted. Kirby took a closer look, and he realized this was no ordinary tree.

"I haven't an idea, but this tree has abducted Gumo and the Water Vein! We must find a way to rescue them!" Sein said.

"Ori! Sein! This is no ordinary tree!" Kirby shouted, waving his arms frantically. "It's-it's Whispy Woods!"

Whispy Woods roared and began to shoot puffs of air at Ori. He dodged them while sein began to shoot spirit flames at the colossal tree. He then began to drop apples and Gordos from his leaves. Kirby and ori easily dodged them, leaving Whispy to drop enemies instead. He dropped stompers, spike slugs, bronto burts, hot heads, and spitters. Kirby inhaled a hot head and obtained the fire ability, burning the enemies with his fire breath. He blew flames at Whispy as sein shot more, Bri gong whispy down for a moment, but not before growing to a gigantic size and leaping from the ground and landed between Kirby and ori. Then an abundance of rotten apples began to rain down into them, alongside with bombs, drop slugs, gordos, and more enemies. Kirby and ori dodged all of the apples but were hit by some of the gordos and slugs. They both finished off Whispy Woods with a combined burn and a charge flame. Whispy Woods spat out Gumo and the Water Vein, shrinking down to a smaller size, a tear running from whispy's "eye."

Gumo started to come to, and looked around worriedly. He saw Whispy Woods crying and Kirby and ori next to him. Gumo then pushed the Water Vein to Kirby and ori, extending his hand. "Thank...you." Gumo said in a deep voice. Ori smiled and shook Gumo's hand, Kirby repeating afterward.

"No problem. May the light shine down on you." Ori said.

"See you later!" Kirby waved smiling as Gumo dashed off.

"Kirby! Ori! We've done it!" Sein said, floating around in circles. "Using the water vein's energy, we can open the Ginso tree and restore the element of waters!"

The clouds dissipated slightly and revealed the full moon, shining on Kirby and Ori.

"Hey, Ori? It's getting pretty late."Kirby yawned. "Should we rest up for a bit?"

"Yeah...we need to keep up our strength." Ori responded, making a soul link on the ground.

Ori had gathered some dry leaves and moss to use as makeshift bedding, while Kirby began to lay on the bark of a nearby tree.

Ori noticed Kirby laying on the tree bark next to him. "Hey Kirby, you sure you'll be fine sleeping on that tree like that?" Ori asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Kirby replied. "I sleep like this sometimes in my world. I'll be fine."

"So tomorrow we restore the Ginso tree?" Ori said.

"Yep." Kirby said.

"Okay...goodnight Kirby."

"Goodnight, Ori." Kirby said as he drifted off to sleep.

Ori fell asleep as well, Sein watching over the both of them. _They make such good friends..._ he thought.


	6. Up the big ol' Ginso tree

Chapter 5: Up the big ol' Ginso Tree

Abyss.

Grass, glowing particles, and stars.

Those were the only things that were in the realm of Kirby's dream. He had fallen asleep after he had rescued both Gumo and the Water Vein from Whispy Woods.

Kirby's eyelids began to flutter open, and he lifted his head to look around. He felt the grass beneath his feet as he stood up to explore this unknown reality. He looked at his hands and saw that they were both glowing slightly and seemed transparent. In fact, everything was glowing in this realm.

 _Where am I…?_ Kirby thought. He looked ahead of him and saw a light bigger than the particles around him. It began to shine brighter, then began to send out a strange blue radiation. Kirby scratched his head, hearing a voice from the large light.

" **Greetings, Young warrior."** The voice spoke. Kirby was startled, jumping back slightly out of surprise.

"Wh-who are you?" Kirby asked.

" **I am the greater being of Nibel, the source of the light, the reason we all exist."** The voice said. " **I am...The Spirit Tree."**

Kirby's eyes widened. "S...spirit tree?!" He exclaimed. "I...there's so much I want to say! How did I get here? Why did you send me your light? Where…Oh..." Kirby realized what happened back at the light ceremony all that time ago. "I...I'm sorry I wasn't able to save Sein...all...all this was because of me…" Kirby sniffled.

" **Be at one with ease young one. Everything happens for a reason."** The spirit tree said. " **My child would have perished to the darkness if it was not for you, Kirby."**

"I...I guess so…" Kirby said.

" **Now, let us bring these mysteries to light."**

"All right. First off, how did I get here?"

" **Every season or so, two worlds meet at the same universe. On occasion, the worlds will come very close to one another. Because your world has been connected to this one, your warp star has transported to this world. While you were asleep in Dream Land, the warp star must have taken you with it to Nibel."**

"Oh...I get it now." Kirby nodded. "Umm...you aren't mad that I'm forcing your child into this adventure to save Nibel."

" **Mad?"** The spirit tree chuckled. " **I am so proud that my little Ori is going to save all of Nibel. Why do you think I sent my light to you both?"**

Kirby looked at the grass, then back up to the voice.

" **Through Ori's kindness and your bravery, your friendship with my child will save all of Nibel. Find and restore the elements, let Sein show you the way, and never ever give up on Ori, as he will never give up on you, Kirby."**

"He...He won't?" Kirby asked.

" **Never. Your friendship is etched in the fabric of time."** The tree replied. " **I wish you well, Kirby. May the light guide you on your path."** The spirit tree said as he began to fade from the clearing **.**

"W-wait! One more thing! How do I get back to pop star?" Kirby said.

" **Find the missing fragments to your Warp Star, Kirby. Only then can you return to Dream Land."**

Reality began to shift at Kirby's feet. He floated upward and faded away to the waking world.

—

Kirby was sound asleep on the forest floor, Sein and Ori next to him, trying to wake him up.

"Kirby! Wake up!" Sein said, floating toward Kirby.

"Up and at 'em! We have adventuring to do!" Ori shouted.

"Nngh...f...five more minutes…err…" Kirby lazily grumbled, his eyes opening, then shutting after. Sein began to glow slightly, releasing a charge flame next to Kirby a few seconds later. Kirby jumped up with his eyes widened.

"Okay, Okay! I'm up! I'm up!" Kirby said, rubbing his eyes.

"Good. Now that everyone is awake, we can restore the element of waters." Sein said. "Using the Water Vein, we can access the Ginso tree holding the element of waters!"

Kirby nodded and placed the Water Vein in the Ginso tree, the door twisting open. Kirby, Ori, and Sein headed inside the tree, prepared to take on what stood in their way.

Inside the Ginso tree, branches were hanging low with corrupted spiked plants on top of them.

 _What happened here?_ Kirby thought.

"The waters of Nibel once flowed through this very tree. Now it's all rotten and dried up inside." Sein said. "We shall restore the flow, the Ginso tree's heart we must find."

Ori noticed some glowing holes in the side of the Ginso tree's walls, energy seemingly flowing into it. Kirby walked into one hole, which he then transported out to the other side.

"Hey! These holes are basically portals! We can use them to get around!" Kirby said to Ori from the other side.

"Really? Let me try…" Ori responded entering one side of the portal, then exited out to the portal of Kirby's location.

"Wow...this is cool!" Ori said. "We can climb the Ginso tree using the portals!"

Sein led ori and Kirby through the portals to the next room. In this room were small spiked slugs, not purple, but orange in color. They were slithering along the low-hanging platforms held up by vines. Alongside them were small black spheres with eight spikes and two eyes on them, floating with the same behavior as the spiked slugs. Sein tried to shoot them both with spirit flames, but it damaged neither one of them.

"These creatures seem to be invincible…" He said.

"Can you inhale them, Kirby?"

"Oh...these are called Gordos." Kirby said. "You can't destroy them and I can't inhale them...it's best to just avoid them altogether."

Ori jumped up the branches with Kirby following the spirit, Sein floating over them.

After a few rooms and collecting four keystones, Kirby and ori made it to a strange room with spikes and platforms. They looked around, and a mortar cane from the ground and started shooting bullets at them.

"Ori, look out!" Kirby said as the bullet drew closer to Ori, dodging it at the last second. Two more mortars came from the ground and shot at Kirby and Ori, Sein shooting the monsters with flames. After the monsters were defeated by Sein, a small aura began to materialize, and it dissipated to reveal a strange UFO-like robot with an antenna with three small rectangles on top of it. It was dubior, another mid-boss of Kirby's world. Dubior began to zoom around and zap the platforms that ori and Kirby were on, and then began to shoot small energy pellets.

"Kirby, what is this thing!?" Ori shouted as he dodged the pellets.

"I-I think this is dubior, a big enemy of my world! He must be keeping these doors shut!" Kirby said as he jumped from platform to platform.

Sein saw Dubior shooting the pellets, and got an idea.

"Kirby! Try to inhale the energy pellets Dubior shoots!" Sein said.

Kirby did so, and transformed into spark Kirby, bearing a gold crown with a blue circled gem on it, and four arrows on the crown, sparks raising up from the top.

Kirby charged up his spark power, while Sein charged up a charge flame. Kirby and Sein both released a spark barrier and a charge flame at the same time, destroying Dubior. Both doors opened up, allowing Kirby, Ori, and Sein to proceed to the next room.

After unlocking a door with more keystones, Kirby and ori came upon yet another ancestral tree. Sein floated to it and said, "Cries Of dismay I hear inside this Ancestral Tree." He said. Ori wondered if this spirit had died from the corruption of the Ginso tree. "Reem was agile, he dashed through the air. Listen to his voice, the wisdom he shared." Sein said. Kirby and Ori both walked up to ancestral tree, which began to send light into both Kirby and Ori's bodies. It sent them into the air for a brief moment, then sent them back down on the ground, giving Kirby and ori a new ability.

 **You learned bash! Use this ability to leap off of lanterns, projectiles, and even enemies! This ability also doubles over as a way to redirect projectiles and enemies in any direction you want!**

Ori saw a hanging lantern next to the ancestral tree, and jumped to the lamp. He was sent flying through the air and landed next to Kirby a second later. "Here, let me try." Said Kirby. He jumped up to the lantern, jumping off of it and landing next to a container of spirit light.

"Good job, Kirby!" Said Ori, giving a thumbs-up to Kirby. Kirby smiled and collected the spirit light, allowing ori and Kirby to return to adventure with their new ability.

Kirby and ori eventually made it to the heart of the Ginso tree, bearing the element of waters inside. It was a swirl of branches but purple corruption surrounded the element of waters, spewing purple acidic water.

"The heart of the Ginso Tree once kept the Element of Waters safe, but now it's corrupted, all foul and decayed." Sein Said, floating up to it. Kirby looked up and saw more corruption on top of the Element.

"We have to help it, cure it, and cleanse all the blight by removing the corruption on both of the sides."

"Hey sein, can we split up?" Ori said. "Kirby, you go to the left side to remove the corruption, Sein and I will take the right."

"Oh...okay, I was kinda hoping we could both each do one side…" Kirby said, looking down at the ends of his feet nervously.

Ori walked up to Kirby, putting his hand on Kirby's "shoulder." "Hey, Kirby. It'll be fine! You can do this by yourself. You saved pop star a bunch of times, right? This shouldn't be too hard." He said, looking into Kirby's eyes.

"Yeah, you're right!" Kirby said with a look of determination on him. " I can totally do this! I don't even know why I was worried!"

"Alright! Let's save the element of waters!" Ori said, raising his fist in the air. Kirby did the same, raising his stubby hand in the air. They both ran off to each side of the Ginso tree to destroy the corruption.

Kirby came across a room with a few small portals, too small for him to fit into. Alongside the portals was a shotzo shooting cannonballs in a single direction. When he saw a wall blocking his way, Kirby got an idea. He bashed the shotzo's canonballs into the portals, one by one, until it reached the wall. The bullet exploded revealing a passageway with ori waving on the other side.

"Hey! Kirby! You need to destroy the first spot of corruption on the end of the path!" Ori shouted from the other side. "That'll destroy the rest of them!"

"Like a bomb block?" Kirby said.

"A what now?"

"Never mind."

Kirby inhaled a nearby waddle doo and obtained the beam ability, sporting an orange and red two-tipped jester's hat with white spots and a blue wand. He used the beam whip on the corruption, destroying it along with the rest of the corruption on the element of waters.

"See? That wasn't so hard." Ori jokingly said, bumping into Kirby's side as he jumped down to the floor of the element of waters.

"Yeah, I guess not." Kirby replied smiling.

Sein floated over to the element and said, "Now we can restore the element of waters! With this one rekindled, there's two more to go."

Sein then proceeded to float into the element, which in turn started to glow, but it then pulsed violently, rejecting Sein from the element. "What? How is this possible? The element should have been restored by now…" sein said.

"Maybe try again?" Ori said.

Sein did so, with the same result as last time. "The element will not allow itself to be restored, we must find the cause!" Sein said, floating around Ori and Kirby's heads.

Kirby looked behind the element of waters, and saw four bridges with holes at the edges of them. "Umm...Sein? Have those bridges always been there?" Kirby said, pointing to the bridges.

"No, they...they haven't!" Sein replied. "Could this be something to do with why the element of waters will not return to normal?"

As if by response, two strange creatures came out of the holes, each of them with a green block in their hands. They looked almost exactly alike, each sporting spherical bodies with a small stubby tail at the end. They each wore white mittens and shoes, the only difference between them was one was blue, and the other was pink and wore a yellow bow.

"What are those things?!" Ori said.

The creatures each threw their green blocks at the element of waters, instantly regenerating the corruption surrounding the element of waters.

"Kirby, do you know what they are? They're causing the prevention of the restoration!" Sein shouted at Kirby, who was panicking at the sight of them.

"Th-they're Lololo and Lalala!" Kirby shouted. "What are they doing here?!"

They started to push their boxes toward Kirby and ori, both running away from the boxes. Sein shot flames at Lololo, while Kirby used his Beam ability on Lalala. Neither of these attacks seemed to be effective on them, the attacks simply dissipating after they were hit.

"How are they not hurt?!" Kirby said, running from a gordo that appeared from one of the holes. Sein shot a flame at Lololo just before he disappeared into a hole, showing a shield that generated from their blocks.

"Kirby! Ori! You need to destroy Lololo and Lalala's blocks first! They have shields emanating from them! That's when you can hit them!" Sein notified, shooting flames at Lololo's block. It was destroyed at five shots, but sein was only able to get two hits on Lololo before he disappeared back into its tunnel, as Lalala did the same. They now came back with a gordo and a block, each giving them a shield. After fighting Lololo and Lalala for a while, they both got furious and went back into the tunnels. They each started to throw red blocks, which left a flame trail as it moved, and they threw gordos immediately after, disappearing into the tunnels once again.

In addition, two portals opened up every so often, transporting the blocks and gordos elsewhere. Kirby and Ori's chances to attack were slim, so sein got an idea.

"I have an idea!" Sein Said. "Try to bash the red blocks back at them!"

Kirby nodded and bashed a red block in the opposite direction, hitting Lololo with a direct hit. Ori did the same nearly missing Lalala and knocking her back. This what's when enemies started to come out of the tunnels along with boss duo, such as stompers, spitters, and even mortars even emerged from the ground. All while Lololo and Lalala were pushing their blocks around. Kirby and sein eventually delivered the final blow to both Lololo and Lalala, destroying both them and the corruption that surrounded the element of waters.

Kirby and Ori dusted themselves off and walked back to the element of waters. "You alright, Kirby?" Ori asked.

"I'm fine. That was one heck of a fight, though!" Kirby replied.

"Now we can truly restore the element of waters! Well, as long as there is nothing left to stop us…" sein said, floating to the element.

Sein once again entered the element, which this time started to glow, then stopped pouring the purple liquid, and water started to flow through the element, flooding the tree from the very bottom, approaching Ori and Kirby who were near the top.

"The tree is flooding fast! We must flee to the top!" Sein shouted over the roaring waters.

The pair of heroes jumped to a lantern, and bashed off of them. They continued to bash off of lanterns and enemies, shotzos, and avoiding gordos as well. The Water was hot on their trail threatening to swallow them both into its depths. Kirby and Ori's feet were moving so fast it could be thought that they were flying. Lantern after lantern, platform after platform, cannon after cannon, enemy after enemy, Kirby and Ori were climbing rapidly, eventually seeing the moonlight shining fork

A hole in the Ginso tree.

"Ori! Kirby! There's the exit!" Sein shouted over the waters. Kirby and Ori bashed off of the lanterns into the hole, flying out and landing on the wood of the Ginso tree.

"Ngh…" Kirby muttered as he got up and rubbed his head. He looked up, and started to see small droplets of rain come down. They were clean, fresh, and fully refreshing. Ori began to wake up as well, looking around.

"Did...did we do it?" Ori groggily muttered, blinking for a few moments.

"We've done it! We've restored the element of waters! Wondrous job, both of you!" Sein exclaimed happily. Ori began to extend his arms toward the pouring rain, bringing hope to his soul and Kirby's as well.

Ori looked back to the floor and saw a yellow glowing fragment. It seemed to be about the size of Kirby, but not as big as himself. "Hey Kirby, what is this?" Ori asked.

"What's what?" Kirby said, walking over to Ori.

"It's this big glowing piece of...something. I don't know…"

Kirby inspected it, and his eyes widened with realization and happiness.

"This...This is it!" Kirby shouted.

"What is it, Kirby?" Sein asked, floating to Kirby.

"This is my second Warp Star piece! I'm one step closer to getting home!" Kirby shouted happily, lifting his warp star piece in the air.

"You did?! Kirby, that's amazing!" Ori said, hugging Kirby a slight amount.

"This calls for a victory dance!" Kirby said, putting his warp star piece away.

"A victory what?" Ori asked.

Immediately after ori asked, Kirby started to perform an impossible dance that involved flipping, spinning, and jumping around, and he ended with a pose with his hand raised in the air, smiling with his mouth open.

Ori just stood there with his mouth agape, sein floating next to him.

"Wh...I...what...Whuh…" Ori stuttered, attempting to comprehend what happened with Kirby.

"Huh? Oh, that's just my victory-" Kirby started to explain but was interrupted by a lightning strike resonating through the night sky. Kirby jumped up in surprise, then looked to the side and saw the mountain next to his seemingly move.

"Umm...Kirby…? Did that-" Ori asked, but was also interrupted by the mountain revealing two white hauntingly familiar eyes, realizing this was no mountain at all.

This was Kuro, the owl who wished to vanquish the light.

Kuro let out a screeching cry that tore through the air, reaching Kirby and Ori's ears with terror. She then flew around onto the ledge and landed on the ledge next to the terrified spirit and the frightened star warrior. As Kuro drew nearer and nearer, her shining white eyes staring them both down, Kirby then began to back away, Ori doing so as well.

"RUN!" Kirby and Ori simultaneously shouted, running toward the edge of the tree. As Kuro jumped next to Kirby and ori, she blew them off the tree with her powerful wings fueled by hatred.

Kirby and Ori were now free falling off the tree, time seemingly slowing down the faster they fell. Kirby was flailing through the air, as Ori was only unconscious in the air. Kirby cried out in fear as his best friend was falling next to him, branches and fog zooming above them. Kuro's deafening cry could be heard through the wind, bearing resemblance to that of a demon. Kuro was flying at rapid speed toward them, hungry for both Ori's and Kirby's blood, for she hated the light of the spirit tree, which was in both of them. The last thing Kirby saw before his supposed doom was Kuro's glowing white eyes, full of hatred and death. Kirby hugged Ori and began to cry and pray to the Spirit Tree.

 _I'm so sorry...I failed to save Nibel...I couldn't return home, I couldn't restore the light...I couldn't even protect my friend...and now I'll never see any of them again….Ori...King Dedede...Meta Knight...Bandana Waddle Dee...Dream Land...Pop Star...just like that...I've...I've failed you…_

 _...I got you!_


	7. The mysteries of Black Root Burrows

Chapter 6: The mysteries of Black Root Burrows

…

…

… …

… … …

"Ngh…"

Kirby's vision was blank, his head spinning for an unknown reason. When Kirby opened his eyes, a bright light shone on him, and the sound of water rushing could be heard everywhere. _Am I…dead?_ Kirby thought. He remembered falling from the Ginso tree with Ori, the image of Kuro's eyes of hatred still glued to his head. Just then, Kirby heard a familiar voice from the sky.

"Ori! Kirby!"

"Sein! There you are!" another familiar voice spoke.

"I thought I had lost you both to Kuro's talons of hate...but it was Gumo who saved you, delivering us all from an uncertain fate…"

 _Wait...so I'm not dead?_ Kirby thought. He lifted his head and looked around, and found himself in a swamp-lake biome, with water flowing everywhere and plants growing everywhere he looked. "I...I'm alive?" Kirby said to himself.

"Kirby! You're awake!" Ori exclaimed, running up to Kirby. "Are you hurt?" He asked.

"No...I-I'm fine…" Kirby responded, rubbing his head. "I can't believe we survived that fall…"

"Kirby, we would not be alive if it was not for Gumo's efforts to save us. He caught us midair and carried us to this place…" Sein Said, floating to the waters afterward.

"But look here! With the element of waters restored, Nibel's waters are clear!" Sein continued.

"So we can swim in them now?" Kirby asked. When Kirby said swim, Ori shuddered a little.

"Yes, but there's no time to lose, we must make haste! The element of winds next, deep within the Forlorn Ruins. Inside the Misty Woods there's a key that will open the gates!"

Kirby nodded and walked to the Water. He hopped in, wearing a set of blue scuba goggles as he went underwater. Inside the water, he saw the most magical and clear waters he had ever seen. Kelp, coral, and fish were everywhere, and a few blippers and glunks were in the water. He saw some strange fish with two pairs of eyes, and three pairs of fins. Despite the enemies, these waters reminded Kirby of the waters of ice cream island, a popular vacation spot back in Dream Land.

Kirby looked around and saw that Ori was not with him, so he swam back up to the surface. When he reached the surface, a white and yellow striped tube appeared on him as he swam to Ori, who was touching the water with his hand, withdrawing immediately after.

"Hey, you Okay?" Kirby asked, walking to Ori.

"I'm...I'm fine! I just...give me a second…" Ori stuttered, shivering slightly.

"Umm...you don't look fine." Kirby said with his eyes squinted as he walked back to the shore. "Are you...afraid of the water?"

"N-No! That's ridiculous!" Ori said, looking to the right. Kirby just stared at him with the same look.

"...okay, I'm not too big of a fan of water…" Ori said, kicking the ground with his hoof-foot. "I mean, I CAN swim, but I just don't like water…"

"Come on, it's just water! What can it do to you?" Kirby said, nudging Ori toward the water.

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't put me near that! My fur's gonna get all wet!" Ori said, trying to push back.

"Ori, Kirby is right." Sein Said. "I sense keystones in the water, we must dive down to retrieve them."

"*sigh*...If you really say so…" Ori said, setting his hand inside the water.

Kirby got a mischievous look on his face, and looked left, then right, and walked up silently to Ori. He turned around, then pushed him into the water with his foot.

"WoooOOAA-!" Ori shouted as he tumbled off the edge, splashing into the water.

Ori emerged from the water with an annoyed expression, his eyes fixated on Kirby. "Come on, what was that for?!" Ori exclaimed, lifting his arms from the water.

"What? I knew you weren't gonna jump in anytime soon, so I helped you out!" Kirby snickered.

"Oh, you wanna play like that, huh?" Ori said with a smug look. He splashed some water on Kirby with his arms, leaving a blank expression on Kirby's face. "There. Now we're even." Ori said with a smile.

"Oh really?" Kirby said with a smile. But as Kirby looked at ori in the water, he saw two floaties on Ori's arms. "Wait, wait! Hang on! Why are there little floaties on your arms?"

Ori looked at his arms, and noticed the floaties. "Wait, What?" He touched the floaties with a look of awe on him.

"So if I have...these things...I can't dive?" Ori said confused.

"I say this has something to do with our souls bonding…" Kirby said.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain later. Try and dive anyway." Kirby said hopping into the water.

Ori went underwater, blue swim goggles appearing on him as he went underwater. Ori decided not to question it, since it helped him see better underwater. Sein and Kirby followed him in order to find the keystones. They did not need to worry about air thanks to kirby's water breathing ability, which let them breathe in clean water.

After Kirby and ori collected a keystone in the water, they came upon an ancestral tree in a cave. Sein floated to it and said, "Ilo was the stoutest of all the spirits, the most powerful ever seen...now here he rests, turned into and ancestral tree."

"I wonder what ability we'll get from this tree…" Ori said.

"Let's find out!" Kirby replied as they walked to the tree. It began to send light into their bodies, lifting them from the air like the last few times, pushing them back to the ground and giving them a new ability.

 **You learned Stomp! As Ori, use this ability to dive powerfully to the ground in midair! As Kirby, if you have certain copy abilities such as Hammer or Stone, you can use them to execute abilities in a similar fashion to stomp!**

Kirby and Ori then ran off to the next room, but not before Ori destroyed a floor to get some spirit light.

They landed in a new room with some spikes and a locked gate, a rammer appearing out of nowhere attempting to attack Ori and Kirby. They tried to dodge it, but it hit Kirby and damaged him a little.

"Ori! Try to stomp when it nears you! This should take off its armor, leaving it vulnerable to attack!" Sein Said to Ori. Ori did so, sending the armor flying off its back, Kirby inhaling it shortly after. When the fight seemed over, another purple aura materialized, forming another mid boss. It was a giant cube with an angry face, and it had two square feet and a title appearance in its corners.

"Kirby, do you know who this is?" Sein asked.

"Yes, this is Blocky! He may look slow, but he can really move!" Kirby said as blocky began to roll around the walls and on the ceiling. Sein shot flames at blocky, but they did not do anything as blocky was essentially a rock monster. Blocky jumped from the ceiling, narrowly missing Ori when he tried to crush him, blocky then threw himself forward, Kirby jumping over him. Ori running on top of blocky when he landed on the wall stunned. Ori stomped on him, which seemed to be effective against blocky. Blocky then flattened out his face and increased in size, floating over to Kirby and ori. Ori then dodged out of the way when blocky slammed next to them. Blocky left two stones next to him, Kirby inhaling one and gaining the stone ability. Ori and Kirby both slammed blocky with one last finishing stomp and a heavy smash. The destruction of blocky opened up the gate, letting Ori and Kirby pass by.

Kirby and Ori had made it to the end of thornfelt swamp, unlocking a spirit gate with the keystones. They ended up back in sunken glades, where their adventure first started.

"The misty woods are past these glades, there we will find the Gumon seal." Sein informed as The spirit and star warrior traversed the glades.

Ori nodded, but Kirby looked around with gloom in his eyes. Images of the blind forest raced through his head, with the loss of sein, the decay of the forest, the tragic meeting of what was now his friend. Kirby looked down and sighed.

Ori stopped and looked behind him, seeing Kirby falling behind without his cheerful attitude.

"Kirby, what's wrong?" Ori asked, walking up to Kirby.

"Huh?" Kirby said, looking up to Ori. "Oh, sorry…it's just...I have bad memories of this place…"

"What do you mean?" Ori asked, cocking his head sideways.

"It's just-" Kirby started, but was interrupted by thunderous flapping wings, causing Kirby to run behind a tree, grabbing Ori and dragging him with Kirby.

"Ow! Hey, Watch it!" Ori said, staring at Kirby angrily. "What was that for?!"

" _It's K-U-R-O…!"_ Kirby whispered, pointing to the giant owl that had landed behind the tree they were hiding behind.

" _Oh…! Sorry…!"_ Ori whispered, his back against the tree Kirby was hiding behind.

Kuro looked around, making a growl-like noise, and flew off to the unknown still hunting the light, blinded by hate.

Kirby looked from behind the tree, and saw that Kuro was gone. Ori walked out, as did Kirby. "Sorry I dragged you behind forcefully…" Kirby said after seeing the coast was clear.

"It's all right. Just try to warn me next time, all right?" Ori responded.

Sein floated to Ori and said, "Ori, Kuro has obviously learned that we are still alive...we need to lay low for a little while."

"Where should we go?" Kirby asked.

"Kirby, do you remember the spirit well here at sunken glades? I recall seeing something of interest in a small cavern next to it. It would not do us harm to take a small glance."

"Oh, yeah...it wasn't too far from here, right?" Ori said, his memory of the spirit well coming back to him.

"Come, I can show you the way. We may find something to our advantage!" Sein said as he floated through the forest, Kirby and Ori following.

As Kirby and Ori traversed the glades once more, Ori realized kirby never got to finish his sentence when kuro came.

"Hey Kirby, what were you saying back before we got ambushed by kuro?" Ori asked as he jumped over some spikes.

"Back when I...oh…" Kirby sighed. "The thing is...this place is where our adventure began...and...it was also when I met you…"

"But isn't that a good thing?" Ori asked.

"Well it would...if it weren't for the fact that I had to watch you die because I couldn't save you or Sein…"

"Kirby, listen! That's all in the past." Ori said, facing him with a stern look on him. "We can't live in the past forever. What's done is done. We may not be able to change the past, but we can change the future. We learn from our mistakes, we keep moving forward, and we never give up."

Kirby stared in awe at ori's speech, and nodded. "You're right. I can't wallow in regret anymore. We will save the forest." Kirby said with a look of determination on his face.

Ori smiled. "That's the Kirby I know." Ori put his hand on Kirby's shoulder and said. Listen. We'll get through this together. Nothing will ever stop us when we work as a team. Believe in yourself, and anything is possible."

"Thanks, Ori. I guess all I needed was some confidence." Kirby smiled.

"Now come on. Sein Said that the spirit well was around here somewhere." Ori said as he took of into the forest.

As ori, Kirby, and sein made it to the spirit well, they climbed up the wall and saw a statue of some sort.

"What is this?" Ori asked.

"Ori, Kirby, this statue looks familiar, I've seen it before!" Sein Said, floating to the statue. Ori and Kirby walked to it, and began to view a vision.

In the vision, in this exact spot, they had actually found the home of Naru and her father years back before the great storm, when she was just a child. The only thing they saw was naru's father lift her up and hug her, thus ending the vision.

"What was that?" Kirby asked.

"I remember them! Many years ago, when the Spirit Tree was but a sprout...Naru, the young one, looked after us whenever she could. Come, let us venture deeper! I sense many ability cells and potential collectibles!"

"And maybe we can learn naru's past along the way!" Ori said, nodding to sein.

Kirby and ori ventured into the cave ahead of them, bearing almost no light in it.

"Wow, it's dark in here…" ori breathed.

"You can say that again. I can't even see my own hands!" Kirby echoed, his only source of light being ori and a few glowing mushrooms which provided little light.

"There has to be a way to brighten this place, search the cave for a light!" Sein Said.

Kirby and ori traveled through black root burrows, jumping through platforms which glowed through the darkness, and provided almost no light. They both eventually came upon a small rock formation with a glowing sphere on it. Sein floated to the sphere and said,

"The light from the spirit tree, it was a gift from our kind. It was given to naru, who stood by our side." Kirby picked up the orb, which emitted a light that lit up a small portion of his area.

"Hey, it lights up! We can see a little better now!" Ori said.

"Yeah, but this thing's heavy! I can barely move with it!" kirby replied, his hands shaking from the weight.

"You need help?"

"No, I think I got it...we just need to move a bit slower…"

Ori nodded, and walked with kirby to the perilous platforms of the caves.

As they traveled through the burrows with the light in hand, they eventually came across a statue with a small slot in it, and a lever in the very top of the room.

"I think that lever opens up the slot for the statue…" Ori said, pointing at the lever.

"Yeah, but how do we get up there?" kirby replied, still holding the shrine.

"Hmmm..."

Ori looked around, and noticed a black round object behind kirby. It looked like a giant metal cauldron held up by metal bars.

"What's this?" Ori said, raising up the object.

"Oh, hey! This is a cannon!" kirby said. "You need to light the fuse nearby and hop in before it goes out!"

"Kirby, is this the fuse you speak of?" sein said, floating to a small rope sticking from the ground.

"Yeah! Just light it with a flame and it'll launch!" kirby said as he hopped in. sein did so, shooting a spirit flame at the fuse, where it ignited and followed the fuse all the way to the cannon, shooting kirby and the shrine at the lever. Kirby pulled it, and it opened up the slot for the statue.

He jumped back down and landed next to Ori, trying to lift the shrine up to the statue.

Ori tapped kirby's shoulder and asked, "You need help?"

"Okay, i actually need help this time." Kirby said, his hands shaking from the weight. "Can you help me lift this into the slot?"

Ori nodded and put his hands on the bottom, pushing the shrine into the slot with kirby doing so as well. The shrine rolled into the slot, the statue raising up and releasing a burst of light, brightening up the area they were in.

"Ori, Kirby, Look! Even though our light had grown weak in this haze, it lifted the darkness that held claim of this place."

As the light brightened up, it revealed another ancestral tree in the newly lit room. Ori walked up to it and said, "Sein, who was this?"

Sein floated up to Ori and said, "this was Eki, a spirit who was looking for Naru, but she was gone when she came. He was swift like the wind and sprinted with haze. But surrounded by darkness, he lost his way…"

Kirby walked up to Ori and the ancestral tree, and they began to absorb the light of the tree. The lifted into the air as they floated upward, releasing a shockwave when they landed back down.

 **You learned Dash! As Ori, use this ability to dash quickly into the direction you are facing! As Kirby, you can now use the wheel ability to move much faster than normal, acting as a mirror to Ori's dash!**

Ori felt his legs, and shot off on a single direction past Kirby, who jumped up in surprise. "

"Whoa! You can move that fast?!" Kirby exclaimed.

"Apparently! This is cool!" Ori said, smiling at his new ability.

"But I don't have the wheel ability…" Kirby said, looking down.

"Well, I'm sure you might get it sometime." Ori said. "For now…" Ori grabbed Kirby's hand and gripped it right. "Just hang on."

"Wait, What do you meaaAAAAAHHH!" Kirby shouted as Ori soared along the ground with Kirby in his grasp.

As ori and Kirby cleared many spikes and obstacles, their dash ability making things easier, they came across a room with another gate in it.

"Kirby, Ori, I have seen rooms similar to this, and we have faced strong enemies in order to get past. Prepare yourself." Sein Said, Kirby and Ori doing so.

As if on cue, another purple aura formed, and another mid-boss formed. This one was grand wheelie, which looked like a giant wheelie except it's armor was yellow and had four exhaust fumes.

Grand wheelie charged toward ori, dodging him by jumping over him at the last second. Grand wheelie started to shoot bolts and nuts, flying toward them at rapid speed. Kirby and ori bashed the bolts and nuts back at grand wheelie, damaging him a little. Grand wheelie then jumped up and began to spin around, smog swirling around him.

"What's he doing now?" Ori shouted over the smog.

"Watch out! He's air diving!" Kirby shouted as grand wheelie slammed onto the ground where ori was, dodging his air attack. Grand wheelie dropped two bolts on the floor where he landed, where Kirby inhaled both of the bolts thanks to his split inhale that allowed him to inhale two objects at once. He spat them both out to make a bigger star, damaging him more. Grand Wheelie then began to charge up a rocket start, driving at breakneck speed at Kirby. Kirby jumped over him, grand wheelie crashing into a wall and leaving him on his side. Ori ran on top of him and finished grand wheelie with a stomp, grand wheelie deactivating. Ori got off of him and asked Kirby, "So, what do we do with him?"

Kirby looked at grand wheelie, and inhaled him, gaining the wheel ability. "Hey! I can move as fast as you now!" Kirby said.

Kirby transformed into a wheel as ori dashed forward, both of them moving quickly through the groves.

After avoiding lasers and enemies, Kirby and ori made it to a statue of what seemed to be Naru. They stared at it for a little while, then a vision came to them.

Naru was playing with two spirits, them both passing a ball of light around the spirits were passing it around just fine, but Naru was having trouble due to her lightlessness.

Naru's father came and took her away, the spirits calling after her.

"So Naru was friends with the spirits, even though she was lightless?" Kirby said when the vision ended.

"Yes, she formed a great bond with our kind. This must be her motivation to raise you, Ori." Sein replied.

"No wonder she adopted me…" Ori breathed, staring in awe of the statue. He stared at it for a while, Kirby tapping his shoulder.

"Ori? You there?" He asked.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry…I kind of zoned out there for a second…" Ori said with a sheepish look on him and scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I think there might be something below here. Let's go check it out." Kirby said as he dropped below a log. Ori followed, where they saw another ancestral tree.

"Sol could cast our light, even in the dark she would see." Sein explained. "She once lived here in this grove, now here she rests in peace."

Ori and kirby absorbed the light as they did with the rest of the trees, lifting them both from the air. They landed on the ground a few seconds later, giving them both a new ability.

 **You learned light burst! As Ori, use this ability to throw light bursts, which make for efficient long-range projectiles and even bashable objects! As Kirby, with the bomb ability, you can now throw your bombs much farther and even bash off of them! Just remember not to hold them for too long, otherwise you may blow yourself up! (Hint: Kirby can inhale light bursts to become bomb Kirby anytime!)**

Ori looked across his body, the light of his new ability filling him with strength and confidence. Kirby looked at his body, but he didn't feel as different as he was before he received Sol's light. Ori created a small white orb in his palm, and threw it toward a wall. The orb exploded as it hit it.

"Cool! This is kind of like your bomb ability, right Kirby?" Ori exclaimed, looking toward Kirby.

"Yeah, but I didn't get an ability for some reason…" Kirby said, looking down to the grassy floors.

"Hmm…" Ori thought. He knew because his light burst ability was similar to kirby's bomb ability, he got an idea. "Kirby! Try to inhale one of my light bursts!" Ori said as he tossed him a white orb.

Kirby did so and obtained the bomb ability once more, sporting the same wizard's hat and gem. He then created a bomb, and aimed it at a suspicious-looking torch hanging from a wall. _I don't think I can hit this...I normally can't throw my bombs this far…_ Kirby thought as he aimed it. Kirby threw the bomb with tremendous range as it exploded and lit the torch, jumping out of surprise when he hit it.

"Woah! I can throw that far?!" He exclaimed as he blinked in shock.

"Apparently! Your bombs act almost like my light bursts!" Ori replied, with as much awe as Kirby.

Kirby smiled, and ran off with ori to find the secrets of the lost grove.

As kirby and ori made it to the end of the groves and found three ability cells, they came across a new area of intrest: a cave with hanging decorations and statues, and a set of bedding which seemingly had not been used for years.

"So...Was this where Naru and her father resided?" Ori asked, staring at a statue.

As ori closed his eyes, a vision played in his head as Kirby closed his eyes as well.

Naru and her father had arrived at the cave, Naru jumping around happily around their new home. As time progressed, they constructed their new home, but naru's father got older, and his strength faltered over time due to old age. One day, when naru returned home with some flowers, she had found her father, who had passed on from old age. She closed his eyes, whispered some words to him, and left their home. She had never returned since then.

The vision ended, with Kirby looking down sadly. Sein floated to him and said, "though they are gone from our forest, there is no time to grieve. Remember those who have passed and they will forever live on."

Ori nodded and said, "you're right. we need to continue with our quest to save the forest. I don't think Kuro is as suspicious of us as she was before…"

Kirby snapped out of his grief and shook his head. "Well, what are we waiting for? Sein, you said we had to go to misty woods, right? For the gumon seal?"

"Yes," Sein replied. "In order to unlock the Forlorn Ruins and restore the element of winds!"

"No, i think because the writer was having trouble with writing this part of this story and he wants us to get back to our regular adventure."

"Then this gives us all the more reason to save the forest! We must restore the light of nibel before the author loses interest in us!"

Ori frowned. "But I don't want to go through all that platforming again!" Ori said with an annoyed expression on his face. "There has to be an easier way to travel around here!"

"An easier way to travel…?" Sein thought aloud, floating to the exit of the cave.

Ori cocked his head. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Wait a minute, ori...something stirs my memory…" The ball of light said as it floated over to a spirit well outside of the exit with sands and a beachside.

"Yes! This was it!"

"What was it?" Kirby asked as he and ori walked over to Sein's location.

"The spirit wells! We can use them to travel with ease across Nibel!" Sein Said floating to the spirit well.

"Really? How can it do that?" Kirby asked.

"We can use them to warp across spirit wells in nibel, allowing us for easier travel. Let us use this one to travel to the spirit well in the entrance of this place."

"If that's true, that makes this a whole lot easier! There's probably a spirit well in misty woods right? Let's just travel there!" Kirby happily said jumping around.

"...I am afraid that is not possible." Sein Said, bringing Kirby's jumping to and end and replacing his smile with a frown. "One can only travel between spirit wells as long as you have used them at least once. So we cannot travel to misty woods unless we find and use a spirit well in misty woods."

"Would have been nice if we could have though…" Kirby frowned.

Ori beckoned Kirby onto the spirit well with him, saying, "come on, Kirby! The gumon seal isn't gonna collect itself, you know!"

Kirby shrugged the feeling off him, and walked onto the spirit well with ori. The well shone brightly, and Kirby and ori vanished from sight, traveling to the entrance of black root burrows.


	8. Journey into Misty Woods

Chapter 7: Journey into the Misty Woods

After warping out of the darkness of black root burrows, Kirby and Ori ventured to the valley of the wind where they saw the entrance to the misty woods, an odd haze emanating from the entrance.

"I know of this place, the feel of the air. The path to the west leads to the Misty Woods trail." Sein Said as they reached the clearing.

Kirby nodded and began to travel ahead, but ori gasped and pulled back Kirby behind the entrance. "Kirby, watch out!" Ori said as he dragged Kirby back into the entrance. Kirby stumbled backward as ori his begging a rock with a look of fear on him. He looked up and saw Kuro staring intently near the entrance, just out of Kirby and Ori's sight.

"Kuro looms up ahead, won't allow us to pass. Let us not travel further, lest we unleash her wrath." Sein Said.

Kirby scratched his head as he looked toward the entrance.

"Now how do we get to misty woods? With Kuro blocking the path, there's no other way we can get through!" Kirby said with a frown.

"Hmm…" Ori thought aloud. "Maybe there's another path behind us that Kuro can't see us from. Let's try that."

Kirby nodded, and ran with ori to the top of the mountain through the path ori mentioned.

A few moments after, Kirby reached the top of the mountain with ori at his side, Kuro still looking around for the two heroes.

"As long as Kuro is out there, the path to the Misty Woods will be blocked…" Sein Said. "But look up there, we might be able to distract her if we loosen that rock."

Ori looked upward and saw a gigantic rock at the top of a cliff, and some bronto Burts flying around at the top.

Kirby got an idea when he saw the flying creatures and the top of the mountain.

"Hey ori, what if we tried bashing off of the bronto Burts to the top of the mountain?" Kirby suggested.

"Good idea!" Ori replied nodding.

Kirby and ori bashed off of the bronto Burts, dashing through the air in different directions and sending the pink insect like creatures flying in different directions.

Kirby reached the top of the cliff before ori, who was still trying to get to the top.

"Just stomp the rock! I'll be okay!" Ori said as he flew around the bronto burts.

Kirby nodded and inhaled one of the rocks to become stone Kirby once more. He transformed into a statue of the spirit tree and slammed down on the rocks, seemingly having no effect. The rocks were shaken, but they did not collapse. Kirby transformed back and tried again, transforming into a ten-ton weight. It did not have any effect. Sein was floating near Kirby and said, "It would seem as if you require ori to be up here as well in order to stomp this set of rocks…"

Kirby looked down at ori, who was still bashing off of the bronto burts, some small purple owls with four eyes joining in. Ori bashed off an owl and flew toward the edge of the rocks, his three-fingered hand reaching out to grab the edge...

but to no avail, as ori missed the ledge and fell to his supposedly doom, screaming as he fell to the eyesight of Kuro…

If it was not for Kirby grabbing Ori's leg at the last second. "Hang on, ori!" Kirby shouted. "I got you! Just stay calm!"

Ori who was hanging upside down, his tail dropping to his face, looked up at Kirby who was grabbing his leg and hyperventilated as Kirby pulled ori up.

"*pant* that was...crazy…" ori panted as he got up and dusted himself off. "Thanks...you saved my life Kirby…"

"It's no big deal...be more careful next time, alright?" Kirby replied. "So, with that being said...can you help me out with these rocks? I can't loosen them on my own…"

"Sure, on the count to three, alright?" Ori said.

"One...two...three!" Kirby and ori stomped the rocks, which all fell onto Kuro's Head, causing her to slam into a wall and fly off. Kirby and ori landed on the ground and were knocked unconscious for a few seconds. First Kirby got up and dusted himself off, as ori simply rose upward.

"Ngh...we...sent Kuro...away…?" Kirby weakly said.

"Yes, we can now enter misty woods. But beware, the haze of this forest has deceived all." Sein replied.

Ori looked toward the entrance "Hey...what's that purple thing on that rock, Kirby?"

"I see it...there appears to be a very small ancestral tree next to it…" Sein said as they floated over Kirby's and Ori's heads.

Kirby and ori approached the feather, to which ori picked it up and held it in the air.

 **You've obtained Kuro's feather! Use this item to float around midair and ride wind currents to reach higher areas!**

"But what about that ancestral tree? Why is it so small?" Kirby asked while pointing to it.

"This young spirit was Areo. He would float through the air without a care, but when the forest became blind, he met his end." Sein Said to Kirby. "This tree is small because this spirit died at a very young age. It's power is weak, so only one of you can absorb its light."

"Oh...poor little guy…" Kirby mumbled with his head hung low.

Ori rested his hand on Kirby's back and said, "it's gonna be fine, okay? Remember what Sein Said, 'remember those who have passed and they will forever live on.'"

"Correct, ori. As long as you keep areo and all of the other spirits we absorbed in our memories, they will live on through us." Sein replied in turn with Ori's words.

Kirby looked up and smiled at ori and Sein. "Thanks, guys. I honestly don't know what I would do without either of you."

"Thank you, Kirby. You are as important to us as we are important to you." Sein replied, floating toward Kirby.

"Sein is right. If you weren't there to save me at the top of the cliff, none of us would be here right now." Ori replied as he placed his arm on kirby's shoulder. Kirby and Ori embraced each other with another hug, Ori wrapping his arms around Kirby and Kirby placing his stubby hands on Ori's sides. They hugged for a brief two seconds, then released each other.

"Kirby, if ori can float easily with Kuro's feather, can you not float as well?" Sein Said to Kirby when he and ori released each other.

"Yeah...but for some reason, I can't float as well as I can normally, I can only use it as a double jump at the moment." Kirby replied.

"If this is the case, perhaps you should absorb the light of aero. This way you can both glide with no trouble."

Kirby nodded and walked to the tiny ancestral tree, its small light flowing into kirby and sending him above ground. When kirby landed, A small shockwave was sent from him, improving his ability by a lot.

 **You've learned Float and Air bullet! As Kirby, you can now float midair after jumping and ride wind currents! Also, you can shoot the air you use to float in your mouth out as a form of attack! (note: Kirby will fall)**

Kirby jumped up in the air and filled his mouth with air, ballooning up and floated to the entrance, ori following by pulling out kuro's feather and gliding with him.

Kirby and ori reached the entrance to misty woods, the darkness of the forest ahead making Kirby shudder a little. They both walked next to each other with mist surrounding them in the darkness.

"Wow...I haven't even been in here for a minute and this place is already giving me the creeps…" Kirby stuttered as he shuffled his feet.

"It's...it's okay...just keep close to me, and we'll be fine…" Ori replied as he moved along with Kirby.

As ori and kirby walked through misty woods, they came across a strange looking statue spewing mist everywhere, and the mist was spreading everywhere across misty woods.

"What...is this?" Kirby thought aloud as he approached the strange statue.

"The shrouded lantern…" Sein Said as they floated over to it. "This mysterious haze bellows out of its stem. If we can find a way to light it, the path may clear once again!"

"Any ideas on how to light it?" Kirby asked.

"Maybe there is something within the Misty Woods that we may find. Let us search the woods for the answer!"

And with those words, Kirby and ori set out into the forest, unaware of what dangers would await them.

As ori and Kirby dodged enemies and hazards, they eventually found a keystone floating next to a tree. Kirby ran ahead to the keystone and picked it up. _If there's one here, there's others nearby…_ Kirby thought as he put it away. "Alright, ori, let's find the other-"

Kirby stopped and noticed ori was not with him. He looked around, and saw that neither ori nor Sein were with him. When he looked around, all he saw were trees, mist, and darkness.

"Ori?" Kirby called out. When he got no response, Kirby started to panic. "Ori?!" He shouted into the darkness. Kirby still had no response. Kirby started to hyperventilate as he remembered what Sein Said. " _The haze of the Misty Woods has deceived all."_ And that was when it hit him.

He and ori had been separated.

"ORI?! ORI! ORI, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Kirby cried out in fear, thoughts of his friend lost in the darkness without him. As Kirby tried to run back toward the entrance of misty woods, he noticed completely new area that was not there before. Kirby looked around behind him, and saw only a tree in the direction he came from blocking him. "ORI! HELP ME!" Kirby shouted with tears in his eyes. "PLEASE...Please...help...I'm lost...without you…"

—

As ori turned toward where Kirby once was, he noticed nothing was there. Ori turned toward Sein and asked, "Sein…? Where's Kirby…?"

"Kirby? I thought he was getting the keystone!" Sein replied, a shred of fear in Sein's voice.

"I...He was right here! I saw him!" Ori exclaimed as he walked over to where the keystone once was. "Kirby!?" Ori shouted into the mist. There was no response. "KIRBY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Ori shouted again. "KIRBY! COME BACK!"

"It's no use, he cannot hear! The mist of the woods has made him lose his way!" Sein Said.

"How do we find Kirby?! We can't leave without him!"

"I...I do not know. But...I am sure Kirby will be found... _I hope_ …"

"So...Kirby's just gonna be lost here forever?!" Ori shouted with panic, his mouth hanging open after he finished his sentence.

"No, he will not. Your souls are bonded through the spirit tree, I am sure he will turn up eventually. I promise you ori...we will not leave misty woods without Kirby."

"...if you say so…" Ori said as he took off into the depths of misty woods.

 _ **Meanwhile...elsewhere in misty woods…**_

As Kirby looked around misty woods, he saw neither ori nor Sein in sight. "Ori...sein...if you can hear me...please be okay…" Kirby said as he walked into the new area of misty woods.

As Kirby ran across the area, he fought several enemies he had seen before, but one enemy in particular caught his eye. Kirby landed on a platform and looked upward, a small white floating ghost-like enemy floating toward him with its tongue sticking out and a flame on its tail. As it approached him, Kirby began to back away from it, as he had realized he had not seen this enemy in a long time.

"B...Booler!" Kirby tried to inhale it, but the booler remained motionless, still floating toward Kirby. _I can't Inhale it!_ Kirby thought. He decided to run backward and just ignore it. As he ran, more enemies appeared in his way, more boolers appearing and other ghost enemies.

Kirby found another keystone lying on the ground, picking it up immediately after he saw it. He turned around, and saw the forest had changed once more, scaring Kirby even more.

 _I hope ori is doing alright…_ Kirby thought as he set foot in the new terrain.

 _ **Meanwhile…**_

Ori ran along the strange terrain that was misty woods in search of Kirby, and to find a way to light atsu's torch. As he ran into a room, two steel doors shut behind him and on front of him. All of a sudden, enemies started to appear out of nowhere, all going after Ori.

"Ori, prepare yourself! Things are going to be harder without Kirby!"

Ori nodded and jumped over a rammer, and avoiding a sir kibble's blade as well. A bronto Burt was burned up by Sein's flames, and ori stomped on the rammer, killing it. Ori then threw a light burst at a sir kibble and a blade night, the blast hitting a spitter and a slime slug as well.

Sein charged up a charge flame and released it, destroying the last of the enemies...or so he thought. Just then, a purple aura formed in the air, then dissipated to reveal a new mid-boss. It was a one eyed ghost-like boss with a purple point on its head with a star, and had three small ghosts surrounding it.

 _I'll have to ask Kirby who this guy is later on…_ Ori thought as he started to throw light bursts at the ghost boss, where it simply dodged it and sent one of his minions after ori, the ghost hitting Ori and damaging him a little. Ori jumped over another ghost minion and stomped, the shockwave destroying the ghost minions. Sein shot flames at the ghost boss damaging it, while ori threw light bursts at the ghost boss once more. The flames and light bursts were too much for the ghost boss, forcing it to flee.

As the ghost boss fled, the steel doors opened up once more, revealing a keystone. Ori picked it up, then looked behind him and saw strange new terrain that had not appeared before.

"Come on, Kirby! We gotta-" ori started as he looked behind him, but stopped when he remembered he and Kirby were separated.

"Ori...do not worry. Kirby will be found. Your souls are bonded with the light of the spirit tree. You and him will be reunited." Sein Said to ori as he walked through the woods.

"I hope you're right Sein…" ori shuddered as he looked around, seeing enemies in his way.

 **Meanwhile once more…**

Kirby walked through the dark misty woods, jumping up at every small sound, even the sound of his own footsteps on occasion. When he jumped at one of his footsteps, he shook his head and breathed. _Alright, you need to toughen up. What would ori do here?_ Kirby thought as he gave himself a quick internal Pep talk. He looked around, and noticed another ancestral tree next to him.

 _Yes! An ancestral tree!_ Kirby thought as he ran up to the tree. As he ran up to the tree, he started to hear a strange voice in his head.

 _You...in front of my ancestral tree…_

Kirby paused. "Who said that?" Kirby asked as he looked around. "Ori?"

 _I am the ancestral tree. Can you hear me?_ The voice said once more.

"Are you...the dead spirit?" Kirby said as he looked at the ancestral tree.

 _Yes. My name is Tatsu. When my brother atsu's torch faded, I fell to the mists of this forest._

Kirby looked downward when he heard atsu's story of her death. "I'm sorry about what happened to you...if it makes you feel any better, we're looking to reignite you brother's torch." He said as he looked up to atsu's ancestral tree.

" _We're?_ " Atsu's voice asked with a confused tone.

"Yeah! Me and ori are-" Kirby paused when he remembered he had been separated from ori. "Hey, have you seen a little white spirit? He's got two big pointy ears, pretty small, two frills on the top of his head? His name is ori. I was with him on a journey to restore the forest, and we were looking for a way to restore your brother's torch...but I got separated from him soon after we entered these woods."

 _...I am afraid that I have not seen any spirit of that kind. I deeply apologize._ The voice said with sadness.

"Oh...well, at least do you know where your brother atsu's torch is?"

 _You wish to reignite this torch?_

Kirby nodded when he heard the spirit's voice.

 _The torch should be somewhere east of here. I am not quite sure, but if you travel far enough, you are certain to find it._

Kirby nodded and began to walk away, but stopped when he heard atsu's voice in his head.

 _Tell me young one, what is your name?_ The voice asked.

"My name is Kirby, it's nice to meet you." Kirby replied as he turned back to the tree with a smile.

 _Kirby…that...sounds lovely...yes...Kirby._ Atsu's voice said. _You are doing a noble thing for me. Thank you very much._

"Well ori and I are mostly doing it to obtain the gumon seal, but also to clear up the forest from the mist."

 _Either way, I wish you the best of luck._ Atsu's ancestral tree began to glow brighter. With the tree glowing, Atsu said, _Take my light, you are in much more need of it than I am._

The ancestral tree began to send light into Kirby's body, lifting him into the air. Kirby then dropped to the ground, giving him a new ability.

 **You learned climb! You can now scale up and down walls with ease and much faster!**

Kirby smiled. "Thank you atsu!"

 _My pleasure. May the light of Nibel guide you on your path._

Kirby nodded as he ran to the east of misty woods, his new ability and restored confidence fueling him through the forest.

 **Back with ori…**

Ori was floating through sharp spikes and enemy projectiles with Kuro's feather, then landed next to an ancestral tree, Sein floating down next to him.

"Ori, an ancestral tree!" Sein exclaimed as the ball of light floated to the tree.

"Which spirit was this?" Ori asked.

"Hold on, ori…" Sein Said as they floated next to the tree. "What? How do you know of ori…? Kirby?!"

Sein floated down back to ori. "Ori, this spirit knows where Kirby is!"

"They do?!"

"Kirby has traveled east of here as he absorbed the light of this tree! Oh...this was tatsu, she used to climb the mountains high atop sorrow pass, but when her brother's torch faded, she fell to the mists, where she lost her path. Tatsu wishes to give you her light as well, ori."

Ori walked up to the ancestral tree and nodded. The tree then began to send light into ori's body, dropping him to the ground and giving him a new ability.

 **You learned climb! You can now scale up and down walls with ease and much faster!**

"Thank you tatsu!" Ori said as he smiled at the tree.

"Tatsu wishes you well. Follow me, Kirby is this way!" Sein replied as he floated off to the east, ori following behind.

Further away from ori, Kirby was heading toward the next area, dropping to a lower level. Just then, a steel door closed on the area in front of him. A purple aura began to form in the air, materializing into the same ghost boss that ori had fought a while back.

 _Tedhaun! I haven't seen this guy in years!_ Kirby thought as tedhaun charged toward him, making Kirby jump over him. The ghost boss then began to send his little ghost minions after him, the minions exploding as they hit Kirby. Tedhaun charged at Kirby once more, hitting him successfully, leaving Kirby shaking on his feet.

 _No...I can't lose here…_ Kirby thought as he looked up to the ghost boss. Tedhaun sent three minions at Kirby, the second and third hitting Kirby and leaving him bruised and hurt.

As Tedhaun began to charge at Kirby once more, Kirby preparing to meet his end, all of a sudden a white ball of light flew forward and exploded on Tedhaun's eye. The ghost boss covered it eye, another ball of light blasting it again. Kirby looked up, and saw a familiar spirit guardian throwing light bursts at Tedhaun. Sein was right by him, shooting flames at Tedhaun as well.

"GET! AWAY! FROM! MY! FRIEND!" Ori shouted with each light burst thrown. The ghost boss was plastered with hit by hit, the attacks becoming too much for the ghost boss, exploding shortly afterward. After the ghost boss was defeated, ori panted as he stopped the light bursts, his white furry shoulders moving up and down as he breathed.

"O...ori?" Kirby started as he looked at the spirit.

Ori turned around, and his eyes widened on the sight of Kirby. "KIRBY! You're okay!" Ori shouted as he ran over to Kirby and tackled him with a hug. "I was so worried! Where were you?!" Ori said as he embraced Kirby in his fluffy body.

Kirby threw his stubby arms around ori's neck, ignoring the pain he was in, the feeling replaced with a wash of relief as he embraced his fluffy spirit friend. "Ori...I...I was lost in the woods...Iworried too…! I'm so sorry I ran off without you, I'll never do it again…!"'m so sorry I ran off without you, I'll never do it again!" Kirby cried into Ori's furry shoulder.

As kirby cried into ori's shoulder, Ori rubbed Kirby's back as he hugged him, wrapping his long fluffy tail around him attempting to comfort him as he let kirby release his emotions. "Hey...it's okay kirby...don't cry…"

Ori and Kirby embraced each other in a hug for a while, then let go of each other, a few tears in kirby's eyes. "Ori...i'm so sorry I made you worry…" Kirby sniffled as he looked into Ori's eyes.

Ori wiped Kirby's tears away with his thumb as he smiled at him. "It's alright, Kirby. We just need to stick together From here on out, okay?"

Kirby looked up to ori, and then smiled. "Okay."

Just then, the steel door opened up once more, revealing a spirit gate. Kirby and Ori walked over to the gate, and inserted their keystones inside. The spirit gate opened up, revealing a crystal ball on top of a stump, a rotting tree with markings next to it.

"This must be what we need to light atsu's torch!" sein said as the ball of light floated to the crystal ball. Ori walked over to it, and lifted up the ball, the weight pressing down on him a little, slowing his movement.

"You okay, ori?" Kirby asked as he walked up to ori.

"I'm fine...i'll carry it, you and sein cover for me as I carry it to the torch, okay?" ori replied as his legs shook from the weight of the crystal.

Kirby nodded as Sein Said, "we will, ori."

"Thank you." Ori replied as he and Kirby set off into the woods, Kirby and Sein protecting him from enemies and dangers. A blade knight came along and charged at ori with its sword, but Sein shot flames at the knight, Kirby coming along and inhaling the blade knight after. Kirby transformed into sword Kirby, wearing a green cap with a sword with a blue base and a red gem at the center of it. Kirby used his sword to slice up the enemies that came along, Kirby, ori, and Sein reaching atsu's torch at last, fog still spewing from its center. Ori lifted the ball of light, struggling to put it in the torch.

"Need some help?" Kirby asked as he walked up to ori.

Ori nodded and moved over to the side to allow Kirby to grab the orb. Kirby placed his hands on the orb from the bottom, and shoved the orb inside the torch.

The torch stopped spewing fog, and instead lit up with a blue fire and making trees around it light on fire as well, all of the fog clearing up. The torch rose up from the ground a bit, and it made pillars rise up as well. Deep inside the torch, a orange glow resonated from inside the torch, the light glowing brighter from inside as an orange crystal floated upward out of the torch. It rose up higher and higher, before reaching high up into the sky, seemingly not returning.

"What is this?" Sein wondered. "The gumon seal should have floated down back to us…"

Before Sein could wonder any more about it, suddenly the torch began to spew even more fog than usual, making the area almost impossible to view.

Ori and Kirby held onto one another as to not lose each other in the fog, and sein floated very close to them.

"Ori, Kirby, are you two all right?!" Sein shouted over the fog spewing.

"We're Okay!" Ori replied as he held onto Kirby.

"Me too!" Kirby nodded as he held on to ori as well.

The fog dissipated, revealing two boss enemies. The first one yellow crescent that was scowling at Kirby and ori. It had thin white arms with white gloves at each end and large curved shoes stood below him. The next one was a giant flaming ball with eyes and a mouth, and thin arms like the moon creature, and was just as angry as he was. He had no legs however, and just floated upwards. Kirby gasped as he backed away from the bosses.

"Who are these guys?!" Ori shouted with fear.

"They're mr. Shine and mr. Bright!" Kirby exclaimed as his eyes widened.

Mr shine then threw himself into the air, becoming a sun and shining up the whole area, but still floating over ori and Kirby's heads. Them mr. Bright curled up into a ball and started to roll at breakneck speed, before traction kicked in and sent him flying toward ori and Kirby. They jumped out of the way at the last second, mr. Bright bouncing off The wall and continuing to roll, bouncing off wall after wall, before stopping to rest a bit.

Kirby took this opportunity to attack mr. Bright with his sword, and Sein shot flames at the moon creature as well. Mr bright jumped up in the air, the sun that was above them earlier dropping down to form mr. Shine. The sun then reared back it's hands and began to shoot fireballs from its hands at ori and Kirby, ori getting struck by a fireball as he tried to dodge them. Ori fell to the ground and got back up, aiming a light burst at mr. Shine. Just as he was about to throw it, suddenly a star knocked the ball of light out of his hand. Ori looked up, and noticed that mr. Bright was in the sky as a moon, and stars were forming in the sky and being sent down at the two heroes. Ori and Kirby ran around dodging the stars, as Kirby ran up to mr. Shine and unleashed an upward slash, damaging the sun a little. Mr shine jumped into the air with mr. Bright, and mr. Shine began to glow very brightly, to the point where it started to burn ori and Kirby a bit. Mr. Bright cast a shadow safe zone on one spot though.

"Ori! Kirby! Run to the shadow!" Sein exclaimed. Kirby and ori did so, the shadow protecting them from harm. However, the brightness stopped, and mr, bright took this opportunity to turn back into its primary form, falling down on Kirby and knocking back ori a bit as mr. Bright landed on Kirby.

"KIRBY!" Ori shouted as mr. Bright jumped back into the air and mr. shine started to glow once more. Ori picked up kirby and carried him under mr. bright, another glow coming from mr. shine and the shadow protecting the spirit and star warrior. Kirby woke up in ori's arms, and shook his head. "Th...thanks ori…" Kirby muttered as he got out of ori's fluffy arms. Mr. bright fell back onto the ground in front of ori and kirby, and started to throw cutter boomerangs at the two. Ori bashed off of a few, sending the boomerangs back at mr. bright and damaging him a little.

Just then, mr. bright-who was in the sky lighting up the battlefield-sent down a blue beam down toward the two, the beam hitting ori out of nowhere and hurting him. The beam dissipated, making mr. shine move to kirby and attempt to shoot a beam at him, the star warrior dodging to the side as the beam shot down at him. Kirby overhead slashed mr. bright while he was distracted by throwing cutter boomerangs at ori and sein, damaging him even more, forcing him up to the sky as a moon again, this time cracked up and unable to battle. Mr. shine coming down and contesting the spirit and star warrior. Mr. shine began to shoot fireballs once more, kirby and ori bashing off of them and sending the fireballs at mr. bright, making him stop and dodge his own fireballs. Mr. shine then sent himself flying at kirby, the star warrior dodging to the side and shoving his sword into the back of mr. shine, throwing him with the sword into mr. bright, cracking them both up, and making them explode, blue and orange pieces scattering across the air, and the gumon seal floating in the spot where the sun and moon bosses exploded.

"Did...did we do it?" ori asked as he panted from the long fight. The gumon seal shone brightly, the orange and blue pieces starting to rise up, and all coming toward the center of the gumon seal, reforming into a new boss enemy which seemed to be a fusion of mr. shine and mr. bright. It had the same body as mr. shine, but mr. bright's curvy shoes. Its eyebrows seemed even more angry than before, its teeth gritting as it stared at ori and kirby with hatred.

"A...a fusion?! Mr. shine and Mr. Bright must have used the gumon seal's power to achieve this form!" sein worriedly exclaimed as the fusion began to shoot giant fireballs at them, the fireballs bouncing around the battlefield. Sein shot flames at the fusion, but they did not seem to do very much to it, sending itself flying at ori and sein. Kirby ran over and pushed them out of the way at the last second, the fusion hitting kirby instead.

"KIRBY! No!" ori shouted as he stuck his hand out to him, seeing kirby get burnt a little and losing health. "You…!" Ori then began to throw light bursts at the fusion, hurting it a little, causing it to fly over to atsu's torch and standing on top of it, making mist spew from it more than ever before, obstructing ori's view as he covered his eyes. "Oh no…not again! KIRBY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Ori called out in the mist.

"I'm okay!" Kirby responded as the mist started to dissipate, but the battlefield was much different now, platforms that were not there before, the ground shifted, and even enemies appeared in the new battlefield.

"We are being deceived! Mr shine and mr. bright have changed the battlefield using the mist of misty woods!" sein said as the they shot flames at a spitter that had appeared in the mist. Kirby was busy fighting a waddle doo, the one eyed enemy attacking kirby with a beam whip from its eye. The mr. shine and mr. bright fusion then began to throw flaming cutters at ori and kirby, changing the battlefield overy so often with atsu's torch. A few moments of fighting later, the fusion then began to glow brightly like mr. shine's attack, forcing kirby and ori to take cover behind the platforms that appeared from the mist. After the attack ori and kirby finished the fusion off with a charge flame, a light burst, and a twister slash, making the fusion begin to rise up into the air, explosions coming from all over him, making rays of light shine out of him, and then after a few more explosions, the fusion shattered into bits, each of them exploding after a second. The gumon seal floated just above kirby, ori, and sein, the three jumping up and grabbing it.

As Kirby picked up the gumon seal, sein floated to him and said, "The element of winds is deep within the forlorn ruins, south of this place. It's not too far, I can show you both the way."

Kirby and ori walked outside the misty woods, and the night sky shone above them, the moon and stars lighting up the area below them.

"Hey, sein? Can we take a rest here? I'm all tuckered out from misty woods and that fight…" kirby said as he yawned a bit

"Me too...I could use some sleep…" Ori said as he rubbed his eyes.

"Hmm...you may be right. We do need to keep our energy up." sein said as they seemed to nod.

A few moments later, kirby and ori were laying next to each other, staring up at the stars as they rested.

"Hey...kirby?" ori asked as he looked at the moon.

"Yeah?" kirby replied.

"What's it like in pop star?"

Kirby was a little off guard by the question, but smiled at ori's curiosity, as he had always been curious about things in his this world.

"It's really nice...a lot like yours. I have a lot of friends back at my own world. There's King Dedede, a big penguin guy, Meta Knight, he always wears a mask and has a big golden sword, and there's bandana waddle dee. I think you and him would get along great." Kirby explained as he looked in the sky with ori.

"Wow...it must be really nice to have friends like yours…" ori sighed as he looked up into the sky. "The thing is...I never really had friends before, really...well, besides you. My mother, Naru, didn't let me go out very often...i see why now. Because of all these monsters and dangers here in this world."

Kirby looked to ori with a bit of sadness. "I'm so sorry ori...that...well...you know…"

Ori turned to kirby with a bit of confusion. "What?"

"About...about everything. Your mother's death...the blinding of the forest...the death of your entire species...and...well…" Kirby looked away sadly as he said this.

Ori felt terrible for kirby. He knew he had to do something to help him out. Ori scooched over to Kirby's side, and placed his arm around kirby's body. He looked up at ori and met his dark eyes. His glowing pupils looked at him with a feeling of reassurance. Ori pulled his friend closer to him, Ori's soft fur feeling very relaxing for Kirby. "Hey...it's gonna be okay, Kirby. We're gonna restore the elements, we'll find your warp star pieces, and then we'll return Sein to the spirit tree. My species will be brought back, and I can be with them. Everything's gonna work out just fine, okay?" ori said to kirby in a soothing voice.

Kirby smiled, and the snuggled into ori's soft fur. This made ori blush a little bit, his cheeks growing a bit blue as Kirby snuggled into him. Kirby smiled as he rubbed his face into ori's fur. It was almost as comfortable his bed back in Dream land, except that kirby could hear ori's heartbeat from laying on him. "Thank you ori…" Kirby softly said as he snuggled with the spirit.

Ori decided he actually felt very happy making his friend feel safe, and so ori then rubbed kirby's body with his hand, wrapping his long tail around Kirby to keep him happy. Kirby closed his eyes and fell asleep on ori, snoring very lightly as he slept. Ori smiled at this, and laid his head down and fell asleep as well, the two heroes resting for the night as they snuggled with one another.


End file.
